Pollution and Property : Comparing Ownership Institutions for Environmental Protection

Rating:
Summary: Reality Check Delivered
Review: This is a very important book for the study of regulation. The book puts into perspective (and escapes) the laissez-faire-ist fever that has taken over a significant part of the legal academy. Although unrestricted private property may be an appropriate policy in several instances, problems do exist where different regulatory systems perform better. Professor (and dear colleague and friend) Daniel Cole juxtaposes types of problems and types of regulatory responses based on property concepts. This juxtaposition reveals that a continuum of types of property, from unrestricted private ownership to complete public ownership, have been used to solve policy problems. Professor Cole explains the success of each on the basis of the problem's features. What is revealed is nothing less than a general system of regulation. The book goes beyond the notion that different problems have different solutions. Here we are told what solution tends to fit each type of problem. It is no surprise that this book has enjoyed glowing reviews (see. e.g. Prof. J. Wandesford-Smith in PolSci).