How is it economically responsible to destroy proprty which has value? precursor: bitcoin.stackexchange.com/q/1851

How can it be economically responsible to destroy property which has value?

If a property is destroyed (which is the right of the property holder in most cases, I do not dispute that) then, the holder robs themselves of the economic benefit of otherwise disposing of the property which has value and that they no longer want, rob the economy also of that passed on benefit or, at least their heirs and the future economy are robbed of the benefit.

How can this be economically responsible dominion over property?

I take it that under most jurisdictions a company would be prevented from doing the same as it is not in the best interests of the company, a principle which the directors must uphold.

I wish to gain an economic view of flaw/benefit this practice.

Can this even be justified in such extreme circumstance as; I possess the only ten copy Picasso's, they are validated and dated and, there is no surviving original. I destroy nine of the ten copies.
The general answer would be that it is wasteful and selfish to destroy assets with value. I'm referring to assets as something you own, as property can be confused with land or real estate properties.
Still, I tried to list a few motives for destruction of assets
Responsible destruction
The only cases that come to mind as &quot;responsible&quot; destruction of assets, are when the assets in cause can harm others. Disarmament is a good example here: arms have value, but its destruction reduces the potential arm they can cause.
Destruction for personal gain
The case you provided goes more in the direction on &quot;in which cases can you destroy value for self gain&quot;. The Art example you provide is a good one: increasing the scarcity could be economically profitable, when one is sure that the increase in value for the remaining asset is larger than the loss of value from the destroyed asset. If you consider fraud, burning your own house or car for claiming insurance is another example.
Irrational destruction
As many referred, you need to consider that humans don't always act &quot;rationally&quot;, and in times of frustration and desperation people feel like destroying stuff. An historical example from the US: In the great depression in 1929, farmers were destroying their own production as the price of crops was below the cost of producing it. At the same time there was hunger around the whole US (source).
Creative destruction
As you tagged this question as reference-request, I believe that you might be interested to read the Wikipedia article on creative destruction, a term coined by Schumpeter, described as

The process of industrial mutation that incessantly revolutionizes the economic structure from within, incessantly destroying the old one, incessantly creating a new one.

Although this doesn't answer your question per se, is the only reference I could think of on the topic of &quot;destruction&quot;.