The fallacies of free market environmentalism

Article Abstract:

Proponents of free market environmentalism, such as Terry Anderson and Donald Leal, overlook the market failures which make public environmental regulation necessary. In addition, they fail to consider all the costs of privatization, such as the increased transaction costs involved in litigating private enforcement actions. The emphasis on private rights also negates the moral value of appealing to common interests. Markets could have a role in supplementing or implementing public environmental regulation, but Anderson and Leal do not contribute to understanding what that role should be.

Criticism and interpretation, Anderson, Terry L., Leal, Donald R.

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Free market versus political environmentalism

Article Abstract:

The free market approach to environmental problems is preferable to the current system of scientific management by government. Government does not necessarily maximize social welfare, as is frequently assumed. Free market environmentalism recognizes that human behavior is affected by incentives and that information costs are positive. Property rights are the best mechanism to provide incentives to capture environmental values with pricing mechanisms reflecting information costs. For example, individual transferable quotas could be used to establish property rights in fisheries.

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Institutional fantasylands: from scientific management to free market environmentalism

Article Abstract:

Both scientific management and free market environmentalism are naive, utopian fantasies. They occupy opposite ends of the institutional spectrum, being totally in favor of either public or private solutions. What is needed instead is an impartial analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the complete range of alternatives. The free market environmentalism advocated by Terry L. Anderson and Donald R. Leal offers only a simplistic, one-sided account which denies the legitimate role of public institutions.

Public administration

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