We show that grandfathering fishing rights to local users or recognizing first possessions is more dynamically efficient than auctions of such rights. It is often argued that auctions allocate rights to the highest-valued users and thereby maximize resource rents. We counter that rents are not...

This paper summarizes and synthesizes the role of markets in facilitating climate change adaptation. It explains how market signals encourage adaptation through land markets. It also identifies impediments to critical market signals, provides related policy recommendations, and points to...

We show that grandfathering fishing rights to local users or recognizing first possessions is more dynamically efficient than auctions of such rights. It is often argued that auctions allocate rights to the highest-valued users and thereby maximize resource rents. We counter that rents are not...

In their book, The Narrow Corridor, Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson contend that prosperity requires a rule of law that threads the needle between anarchy and despotism. We emphasize that creating that rule of law is a process in which society—the citizens of a sovereign state—is in a race...

Economic analysis of natural resource and environmental issues inappropriately places too much emphasis on Pigouvian externalities and too little on Coasean property rights and transaction costs. The crucial questions are who has what property rights and what are the transaction costs associated...

In order for a society to use its resources efficiently, property rights must be well defined, enforced, and transferable. By now, this basic conclusion of the modern property rights literature needs little defense. Examples abound of the resource waste that occurs when actors do not bear the...