Private property under capitalism was constructed by state institutions, not spontaneously

Evidence

Far from being spontaneous, our economic system was built by state institutions. In Britain, without laws—the political decisions of the elite sitting in Parliament—there would have been no recognition of land, which was the most important means of production at that time, as private property. The presumed naturalness and even “sanctity” of the second pillar of capitalism, private ownership of the means of production, has been politically constructed and shaped over time. — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 69

Categorization

• XREF: Directly supports the reader’s polemical case against capitalism’s naturalization; echoes Milgrom’s institutional analysis but from the opposite direction — here the state manufactures the scarcity private trading requires. — connects to: Markets are political projects, not natural outcomes of state removal — Mark Blyth, Austerity: The History of a Dangerous…, 266; Modern capitalism created two overlapping worlds of territorial states and dispersed private property. — Quinn Slobodian, Globalists: The End of Empire and the…, 50; Austrian economics was institutionally nurtured by foundations and state bodies, not free markets. — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 396 (+4 more)
• SEED: An article angle: dismantling the myth that private property is natural by showing it was legislated into existence via the Enclosure Acts.

Broader Connections

• Modern capitalism created two overlapping worlds of territorial states and dispersed private property. #corroborates (0.85) — Quinn Slobodian, Globalists, 50