Pollution and Property: Comparing Ownership Institutions for Environmental Protection

by Daniel H. Cole

All solutions to environmental problems depend on the imposition of private, common, or public-property rights in natural resources. Who should own the resources: private individuals, private groups of "stakeholders", or the entire society (the public)? Contrary to much of the literature in this field, this book argues that no single property regime works best in all circumstances. Environmental protection requires the use of multiple property regimes--including admixtures of private, common, and public-property systems.

226 pages, Paperback

First published June 30, 1998