Answer: How does the concept of self-ownership relate to the principles of capitalism and personal freedom?

For context, this is a question I answered on Quora

They are both answers to fundamental economic questions: who owns the scarce resource that is your body and mind? The answer that only you own that scarce resource is only possible in a system of private property rights that are allocated through markets. A system in which private property is abolished and the state assumes “collective” ownership over the means of production cannot have any meaningful concept of self-ownership. If there are no labor markets and the state is the only employer then the state decides where you are allowed to work and what job you are allowed to do. If there is no housing market and the state is the only real estate agent, then the state also decides where you are allowed to live. If there are no food markets and the state is the only entity that owns farms and grocery stores then they also decide what you are allowed to eat and how much, as food is always rationed under a planned economy. The only thing you might have any individual autonomy over is dating, and even then the state decides your dating pool by virtue of deciding where you live and work and if you are allowed to travel beyond that. A system in which you are not allowed to own anything you create with your own labor is always one in which you don’t even own yourself.