Common Wealth Dividends, Generalized

This chapter accomplishes four tasks. First, we situate what we have learned so far within the context of sustainable natural resource management. The imperative of sustainability places some constraints on how and when Nature should be treated as a source of universal dividends. Second, we explore the possibility of articulating a general theory of common wealth dividends, one that can unify the insights from the domains of land, natural resources, and ecosystem services and extend them to other domains such as man-made commons. Specifically, we examine the public trust doctrine, the labor theory of property, and the concept of economic rent. Third, we look at some specific examples of man-made commons (or commons with man-made elements) as candidate sources of common wealth dividends. Finally, we review some parameters of common wealth dividend program design.