A Property-Rights Approach to the Coronavirus Pandemic

Abstract

Most official responses to the coronavirus pandemic in the United States included some sort of emergency economic suppression policy--the shutting down of non-essential business firms and economic activities--in order to promote “social distancing” and slow the spread of infection. My paper does not question the legal authority of these draconian orders but argues instead that these orders constitute takings of property. Specifically, orders that interfere with a person’s self-ownership rights in the name of protecting public health require the payment of just compensation.