Sustainable development and institutions: The case of property rights

Abstract

Property rights correspond to one of the central institutions in the debate on sustainability. Nowadays, and in the case of landed property rights, this importance has been worldwide increased by the concerns on food security and climate change. In fact, the control and use of important natural resources allowed by the institution of property are crucial to food production and the mitigation of climatic changes. The paper presents the institution of property rights considering the contribution of economic theory, namely Classical Political Economists and Institutionalism perspective. The revision of literature and conceptual approach on property rights is followed by the analysis of crucial norms regarding the definition of landed property rights in the Portuguese case, providing the base to critically address this institution within the debate on sustainability.