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Progressive Genetic Ownership, Jessica L. Roberts

Notre Dame Law Review

Recently, property law scholars have challenged neoclassical economic theory as the primary lens for understanding ownership. As an alternative to the all-too-familiar concepts of welfarism, rational choice theory, and cost-benefit analysis, they offer “progressive property,” a school of thought grounded in value pluralism, communitarianism, and redistribution. To date, much of the progressive property literature has focused exclusively on land use. This Article tests the versatility of this new property school by applying it to a novel context: genetic ownership. As with real property, discussions surrounding genetic ownership have been entrenched in the language of neoclassical economics. Given the proliferation of …