Public Policy Based on the Theory of Rights: With an Emphasis on Economic Policy

Sadegh, Mohamad Mostafa; Kiaalhosieni, Ziaodin; Rezaee, , Majid

doi:10.48308/eclr.2026.239402.1157

Public Policy Based on the Theory of Rights: With an Emphasis on Economic Policy

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

mohamad mostafa sadegh ¹

ziaodin kiaalhosieni ²

, Majid Rezaee ³

¹ Ph.D., Faculty of Economics, Mofid University, Qom, Iran. Corresponding Author’s email: m.mostafa_sadegh@yahoo.com.

² Assistant Professor, Faculty of Economics, Mofid University, Qom, Iran

³ Assistant Professor, Faculty of Economics, Mofid University, Qom, Iran.

10.48308/eclr.2026.239402.1157

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to examine the impact of the idea of rights on the formulation and evaluation of public policy and economic policy. Although the application of the idea of rights is considered necessary, how the theory of rights can be applied to policymaking has not been sufficiently developed, while the good, efficiency, and desirability have been introduced as criteria for evaluating policy. The theory of rights provides a means for applying the idea of rights to policymaking. By analyzing the elements of rights, this article develops a framework for such an application. Accordingly, it examines the meaning, content, holders, justifications, limits, and implications of the “right to policymaking.” The most important outcome of this analysis is the identification of the rules governing policymaking on the basis of constitutional rights, natural rights, private rights, and private and public property rights—rules that cannot be overridden by the discretion of policymakers. Policy must be formulated through these rights. The exercise of the rights of private owners produces a rights-based outcome that cannot be overridden by the will of the state, policymakers, democracy, consensus, or majority rule. In domains of co-ownership, policy derives its meaning from the agreement among the right-holders of that domain, and it cannot be overridden by the will of policymakers or others who have no right in that common domain. It can therefore be argued that any choice made by a non-right-holder, or without a basis in rights, is erroneous; that a right cannot be evaluated by a standard other than the right itself; and that a policy constructed on the basis of rights takes precedence over a policy that policymakers claim to have constructed on the basis of efficiency.

Keywords

law and economics

public policy

legal institutions

property rights

Theory of Right

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