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Cowboys and Contracts

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  • Anderson, Terry L
  • Hill, Peter J

Abstract

This article expands Harold Demsetz's seminal work on property rights by arguing that property rights entrepreneurs discover previously unowned or unpriced attributes of a resource and capture rents by defining and enforcing rights to those attributes. To keep the rents from these new uses from being dissipated in the tragedy of the commons, the entrepreneur must contract to exclude others from the value of his perception. We describe specific and general contracting and use the frontier of the American West to illustrate the two. A central theme is that smaller, homogeneous groups are more likely to prevent rent dissipation and that more centralized political processes are more likely to encourage it. Copyright 2002 by the University of Chicago.

Suggested Citation

  • Anderson, Terry L & Hill, Peter J, 2002. "Cowboys and Contracts," The Journal of Legal Studies, University of Chicago Press, vol. 31(2), pages 489-514, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:ucp:jlstud:v:31:y:2002:i:2:p:s489-514
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    Cited by:

    1. Daniel Fitzpatrick & Rebecca Monson, 2022. "Property rights and climate migration: Adaptive governance in the South Pacific," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 16(2), pages 519-535, April.
    2. Benito Arruñada, 2014. "The Titling Role of Possession," Working Papers 767, Barcelona School of Economics.
    3. Ilia Murtazashvili & Jennifer Murtazashvili, 2015. "Anarchy, self-governance, and legal titling," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 162(3), pages 287-305, March.
    4. Benito ArruÒada, 2003. "Property Enforcement as Organized Consent," The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 19(2), pages 401-444, October.
    5. Lee J. Alston & Edwyna Harris & Bernardo Mueller, 2009. "De Facto and De Jure Property Rights: Land Settlement and Land Conflict on the Australian, Brazilian and U.S. Frontiers," CEPR Discussion Papers 607, Centre for Economic Policy Research, Research School of Economics, Australian National University.
    6. Douglas W. Allen & Bryan Leonard, 2020. "How many rushed during the Oklahoma land openings?," Cliometrica, Springer;Cliometric Society (Association Francaise de Cliométrie), vol. 14(2), pages 397-416, May.
    7. Skarbek, David, 2012. "Prison gangs, norms, and organizations," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 82(1), pages 96-109.
    8. Shenjing He & Yuting Liu & Chris Webster & Fulong Wu, 2009. "Property Rights Redistribution, Entitlement Failure and the Impoverishment of Landless Farmers in China," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 46(9), pages 1925-1949, August.
    9. David Skarbek, 2009. "Alertness, local knowledge, and Johnny Appleseed," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 22(4), pages 415-424, December.
    10. Jonathan M. Karpoff, 2021. "On a stakeholder model of corporate governance," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 50(2), pages 321-343, June.

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