Property rights are constructs in economics for determining how a resource or economic good is used and owned. Resources can be owned by (and hence be the property of) individuals, associations, collectives, or governments. Property rights can be viewed as an attribute of an economic good. This attribute has three broad components and is often referred to as a bundle of rights in the United States: 1. * the right to use the good 2. * the right to earn income from the good 3. * the right to transfer the good to others, alter it, abandon it, or destroy it (the right to ownership cessation)