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Donning Coase‐coloured glasses: a property rights view of natural resource economics

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  • Terry L. Anderson

Abstract

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 with these property rights. Asserting an externality implicitly assumes a set of property rights and hence a distribution of the social costs, but it is precisely a lack of property rights that allows decision makers to ignore social costs. By viewing natural resource and environmental problems through a Coasean lens, we better focus our attention on how property rights evolve, how they influence transaction costs, and how those transaction costs affect the potential for bargaining to minimise social costs.

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  • Terry L. Anderson, 2004. "Donning Coase‐coloured glasses: a property rights view of natural resource economics," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 48(3), pages 445-462, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ajarec:v:48:y:2004:i:3:p:445-462
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-8489.2004.00257.x
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    3. Terry L. Anderson, 2015. "If Hayek and Coase Were Environmentalists: Linking Economics and Ecology," Economics Working Papers 15102, Hoover Institution, Stanford University.
    4. Douadia Bougherara & Gilles Grolleau & Naoufel Mzoughi, 2009. "The ‘make or buy’ decision in private environmental transactions," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 27(1), pages 79-99, February.
    5. Bennett, Jeffrey W., 2005. "Australasian environmental economics: contributions, conflicts and ‘cop-outs’," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 49(3), pages 1-19.
    6. Farley, Joshua & Costanza, Robert & Flomenhoft, Gary & Kirk, Daniel, 2015. "The Vermont Common Assets Trust: An institution for sustainable, just and efficient resource allocation," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 71-79.
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    9. Windle, Jill & Rolfe, John & Whitten, Stuart M. & Alam, Khorshed & Street, Deborah, 2005. "Using Choice Modelling to establish the supply of riparian services and the potential for a water quality trading scheme in Central Queensland," 2005 Conference (49th), February 9-11, 2005, Coff's Harbour, Australia 139298, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society.
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    11. Ortiz-Miranda, Dionisio & Hodge, Ian, 2012. "Entre la propiedad agraria y la ambiental: El debate respecto a los derechos de propiedad de la tierra," Revista Espanola de Estudios Agrosociales y Pesqueros, Ministerio de Medio Ambiente, Rural y Marino (formerly Ministry of Agriculture), issue 231, pages 1-32.
    12. Cheol-Joo Cho, 2011. "An Analysis of the Housing Redevelopment Process in Korea through the Lens of the Transaction Cost Framework," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 48(7), pages 1477-1501, May.
    13. Ng, Yew-Kwang, 2007. "Eternal Coase and external costs: A case for bilateral taxation and amenity rights," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 23(3), pages 641-659, September.
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    15. Beare, Stephen & Newby, Jonathan C., 2005. "Incomplete Markets, Excluded Goods and Natural Resource Management," 2005 Conference (49th), February 9-11, 2005, Coff's Harbour, Australia 137785, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society.

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