In New York, navigable waterways are open to the public; all other waterways belong to the people whose land they … More
Category: Property Rights
Prospecting for conservation: federal mining law encourages environmental conflict rather than free-market negotiation
After President Trump reduced the size of Utah’s Bears Ears National Monument, environmentalists feared the lands would be opened up … More
Environmental restoration requires better incentives
A driving force behind technological innovation and prosperity is “creative destruction.” Old enterprises and technologies are constantly replaced by new … More
How far upstream should federal regulation extend?
Yesterday, the Environmental Protection Agency and Army Corps of Engineers published their proposed rewrite of the “waters of the United … More
Cleaning the commons
The ocean is a global commons. It’s owned by no one, controlled by no one, and open to all. Predictably, … More
Property rights can resolve conflict over Chesapeake Bay oysters
The Chesapeake Bay is the nation’s largest estuary, with a watershed that includes six states. Because of its size and … More
As wildfires become more catastrophic, are we overlooking free-market ways to lower the cost of reducing them?
Like many people, I’ve been monitoring, with dread, updates on the wildfires burning in California. The Camp Fire, which is … More
Are invasive species a menace or a blessing? It depends.
Around the world, many ecosystems have been altered by “invasive species”—nonnative species that migrated or were transported to a new … More
Can a president both shrink a national monument and create a new one?
President Trump’s decision last year to shrink Bears Ears National Monument and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument remains controversial and is … More
How do we decide what environmental goals to fund?
If $10 million magically appeared and you got to decide how to allocate it between several environmental goals, how would … More
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