Nobel Prize Winners at Lincoln Institute Property Rights Conference September 20-21, 2010

Alternatives to the "tragedy of the commons" detailed for managing natural resources

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Sept. 16 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Nobel Prize winners Douglass C. North, Elinor Ostrom, and Thomas C. Schelling will be among the speakers at a two-day conference on property rights and the management of natural resources such as fisheries, forests, mines, and water, sponsored and organized by the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy (www.lincolninst.edu) in conjunction with Elinor Ostrom and Daniel H. Cole.

The Evolution of Property Rights Related to Land and Natural Resources September 20-21 at the Charles Hotel in Harvard Square, will bring together prominent scholars in economics, political science, history, and law to examine property systems. As concern for dwindling natural resources and environmental regulations increases, the conference discusses lessons and successful property management models ranging from the 19th century California Gold Rush to current air, wildlife, and land approaches relevant to the management of climate change.

Over the past several years, the academic literature about property rights in land and natural resources has often emphasized the "tragedy of the commons" and failed to account for cases in which stakeholders successfully manage resources such as fisheries, forests, mines, and water. Building on Professor Ostrom's path breaking work showing that collective action can lead to responsible management of common resources, the conference includes presentations on how various property systems—particularly those that are mainly self-governing—have been applied to and affected the use of natural resources.

Douglass C. North will speak at the pre-conference dinner on Sunday, September 19 on issues related to institutions and property rights. In a keynote address, Thrainn Eggertsson will review how the assumptions of costly information and rational politics generate useful tools for exploring the logic of institutions and their changes, using case studies from Iceland.  He will also discuss new directions for the economics of institutions, with an example of the evolution of Iceland's fisheries regulations.

Elinor Ostrom and Daniel H. Cole will open session presentations by introducing the idea of moving beyond simplistic models of property systems to theories that better account for the complexities and contingencies of actual resource governance regimes. More importantly they advocate that the design of these regimes can be informed by comparative analyses of property institutions operating within larger social-ecological systems.

Other presentations include:

GOLD RUSH LEGACY: AMERICAN MINERALS AND THE KNOWLEDGE ECONOMY

Speakers: Karen Clay, Carnegie-Mellon University, and Gavin Wright, Stanford University

Discussant: Peter Z. Grossman, Butler University

GOLD RUSHES ARE ALL THE SAME: LABOR RULES THE DIGGING

Speaker:  Andrea McDowell, Seton Hall Law School

Discussant: Mark T. Kanazawa, Carleton College

ACCESS AND USE REGULATIONS AS PROPERTY: THE CASE OF THE U.S. CLEAN AIR ACT

Speaker:  Daniel H. Cole, Indiana University School of Law at Indianapolis

Discussant: Wallace E. Oates, University of Maryland

RIGHTS TO POLLUTE: ASSESSMENT OF TRADABLE PERMITS FOR AIR POLLUTION

Speaker:  Nives Dolsak, University of Washington, Bethell

Discussant: Shi-Ling Hsu, University of British Columbia Law School

WHO OWNS ENDANGERED SPECIES?

Speaker: Jason F. Shogren, University of Wyoming

Discussant:  Colin W. Clark, University of British Columbia

ENCLOSING THE FISHERY COMMONS: FROM INDIVIDUALS TO COMMUNITIES

Speaker:  Bonnie J. McCay, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

Discussant: Anthony D. Scott, University of British Columbia

THE EVOLUTION OF ZONING SINCE THE 1980S: THE PERSISTENCE OF LOCALISM

Speaker:  William A. Fischel, Dartmouth College

Discussant:  Robert C. Ellickson, Yale Law School

REFERENCE STATES, VALUATION DISPARITIES AND PSYCHOLOGICAL ENTITLEMENT IN REAL PROPERTY AMONG NATIVE AMERICANS

Speakers: C. Leigh Anderson and Richard Zerbe, University of Washington

Discussant: John A. Baden, Foundation for Research in Economics and The Environment

PLAYING BY DIFFERENT RULES? PROPERTY RIGHTS IN LAND AND WATER

Speaker:  Richard A. Epstein, University of Chicago Law School

Discussant: Henry E. Smith, Harvard Law School

A POLITICAL ANALYSIS OF PROPERTY RIGHTS

Speaker:  William Blomquist, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis

Discussant:  Edella Schlager, University of Arizona

WATER RIGHTS AND MARKETS IN U.S. SEMI ARID WEST: EFFICIENCY AND EQUITY ISSUES

Speaker: Gary D. Libecap, University of California, Santa Barbara

Discussant: Lee J. Alston, University of Colorado at Boulder

CLIMATE CHANGE: THE ULTIMATE "TRAGEDY OF THE COMMONS"?

Speaker: Jouni Paavola, Leeds University

Discussant: V. Kerry Smith, Arizona State University

OCEANS AS A GLOBAL COMMONS

Speaker:  Katrina M. Wyman, New York University

Discussant:  Richard A. Barnes, University of Hull

The Lincoln Institute of Land Policy is a leading resource for key issues concerning the use, regulation, and taxation of land. Providing high-quality education and research, the Institute strives to improve public dialogue and decisions about land policy.

SOURCE Lincoln Institute of Land Policy