The Political Economy of Public Land Use

Keywords

Public land, Wildlife conservation, Forest conservation, Timber, Natural resources conservation, Recreation, Fees, Conservation movement, Political economy, Agricultural management

Abstract

Federal ownership and management of the public lands have created a rent-seeking frenzy, inflated rhetoric, wasted resources, and squandered investment opportunities. The primary commodity user groups, grazers and timber harvesters, have declined in importance whereas conservationists and recreationists have gained. Still, historical use preferences and continued rent seeking have produced use entitlements that seem impervious to changing costs and demands and thus result in large wealth losses to consumers and taxpayers. Privatization of the public lands is probably politically infeasible, but simulated market processes can be used to replace political allocations and improve efficiency.

Original Publication Citation

*The Political Economy of Public Land Use, (1997) Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, 22 (1): 12-29.

Document Type

Peer-Reviewed Article

Publication Date

1997-7

Permanent URL

http://hdl.lib.byu.edu/1877/5077

Publisher

Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics

Language

English

College

Family, Home, and Social Sciences

Department

Economics

University Standing at Time of Publication

Full Professor

Link to Full Text

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