The conventional approach to overfishing is for government to impose a top-down management system on the industry. This may involve a state agency setting overall catch quotas and then allocating shares to fishing enterprises, or creating some form of market framework that allows catch shares to...

This paper explores the interface between institutional theory and Austrian theory. We examine mainstream institutionalism as exemplified by D. C. North in his work with Wallis and Weingast on the elite compact theory of social order and of transitions to impersonal rights, and propose instead...

The Ostroms' research program has a dimension that goes beyond the strict boundaries of political science and economics, crossing into the domain of political philosophy. Bloomington scholars created a framework for analyzing how institutions work and develop that helped them specify and examine...

Global fish catches in the seas and oceans have stagnated since the mid-1990s. Because there are generally no established property rights in wild fish, fisheries are vulnerable to the ‘tragedy of the commons’. Trawler owners race to catch as many fish as possible before they are caught by...

Intro -- _GoBack -- The authors -- Foreword -- Summary -- Tables and figures -- 1 Introduction -- Richard Wellings -- Global fish stocks -- The tragedy of the commons -- How market mechanisms protect fisheries -- Cutting off the invisible hand -- Fishing for favours -- The tragedy of state...