presentation copyright 1997by Barry and Deborah Brownstein

Environmental Problems

Approaches To Environmental Problems

ad-hoc cost-benefit approaches property rights /market based discovery approach 'us vs. them' name calling

marginal costs

marginalbenefits

amount of pollution

Cost-Benefit Approach

When Are Pollution Problems Greatest?

when property rights are not enforced –conservation problems

when markets don't operate when countries are relatively poor

Two Paradigms- Paul Erlich vs. Julian Simon

"The battle to feed all of humanity is over. In the 1970's the world will undergo famines-hundreds of millions are going to starve to death"- Paul Erlich

"I believe human ingenuity, rather than nature, is limitlessly bountiful. I believe with knowledge, imagination and enterprise we can muster from the earth all we need at prices that grow smaller relative to other prices and our incomes...Julian Simon

The Fallacy of Linear Thinking there would be 20 million telephone operators if the

telephone companies were restricted to turn of the century technology

an extrapolation of the trends of the 1880's shows most cities buried under horse manure

‘ the 54 time zones, in the United States, in the 19th century prevents commerce from growing much bigger’

Examples of Government Violations of Property Rights

government owned land homesteading limited to 160 acres government failing to defend right of self-ownership

in the name of the 'common good' class action suits against polluters very difficult mass spraying, radioactive wastes

What If Property Rights Were Enforced?

Would costs increase? What if Disney owned the Bay? Discovery is embedded in the market process

‘The politics of conflict and the policies of mediocrity would give way

to the peaceful process of the marketplace and the workings of

tolerance and diversity. Land reform could achieve what Jefferson

envisioned but the State never allowed...a virtuous republic of

independent, caring and responsible stewards of the western range’