We show that grandfathering fishing rights to local users or recognizing first possessions is more dynamically efficient than auctions of such rights. It is often argued that auctions allocate rights to the highest-valued users and thereby maximize resource rents. We counter that rents are not...

Mention of the American West usually evokes images of rough and tumble cowboys, ranchers, and outlaws. In contrast, The Not So Wild, Wild West casts America's frontier history in a new framework that emphasizes the creation of institutions, both formal and informal, that facilitated cooperation...

Front Cover -- Book Title -- Copyright -- Contents -- Foreword -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction to the Hoover Classics Edition -- 1. What Are Property Rights? -- 2. What Do Property Rights Do? -- 3. Where Do Property Rights Come From? -- 4. How Secure Are Property Rights? -- 5. Will Property...