34 | Communal Property
There are obvious difficulties with how private property regimes handle large events.
In 1978, a group of farmers in a Chinese village called Xiaogang wrote a secret contract and hid it in the roof of a mud hut.
Animal advocates accuse the Cayman Turtle Centre of mistreating its sea turtles and stoking demand for the meat of an endangered species, claims it denies.
At the Cayman Turtle Centre tourists can kiss, hug, and pass around young sea turtles. They can even take a swim with bigger ones if they want. It’s billed as a rare opportunity to come into contact with endangered green sea turtles, a migratory species whose numbers are on the decline because of egg poaching, habitat degradation, and entanglement with fishing nets.
The first few years of Plymouth colony were fraught with hardship and hunger. Economics had a lot to do with it.
Next year at this time, Americans will mark the 400th anniversary of the landing of the Mayflower in 1620 and the subsequent founding of the Plymouth colony by English Puritans we know as the Pilgrims. They, of course, became the mothers and fathers of the first Thanksgiving.
This article explores how private property may have saved the pilgrims.
There are three configurations of property rights: state, communal, and private property. Within a family, many goods are in effect communally owned. But when the number of communal members exceeds normal family size, as happens in tribes and communes, serious and intractable problems arise. It becomes costly to police the activities of the members, all of whom are entitled to their share of the total product of the community, whether they work or not. This is the free-rider problem, and it is the most important institutional reason tribes and communes cannot rise above subsistence level (except in special circumstances, such as monasteries).
In 1978, a group of farmers in a Chinese village called Xiaogang wrote a secret contract and hid it in the roof of a mud hut.
Illegal dumping is the 'new narcotics' for organized criminals in the U.K.
Illegal dumping is the 'new narcotics' for organized criminals in the U.K.
“We have to take defending ourselves into our own hands,” one farmer said as moats and trenches are dug and reinforced gates installed.
This article by the Harvard Business Review examines recent changes in patent law.
In the last few decades, courts have both broadened the kinds of inventions for which patents can be granted and relaxed their oversight of what constitutes genuinely novel innovation. As a result, companies of all sizes are increasingly hindered in efforts to bring new products and services to market by patent holders claiming infringement of even trivial features.
Biosphere 2 was one of the most lauded experiments of the 1990s, then one of the most ridiculed. Now it is back, offering a unique way to put theories about climate and environment to the test.
This video examines the purpose and effect of patents in the United States of America.
Animal advocates accuse the Cayman Turtle Centre of mistreating its sea turtles and stoking demand for the meat of an endangered species, claims it denies.
At the Cayman Turtle Centre tourists can kiss, hug, and pass around young sea turtles. They can even take a swim with bigger ones if they want. It’s billed as a rare opportunity to come into contact with endangered green sea turtles, a migratory species whose numbers are on the decline because of egg poaching, habitat degradation, and entanglement with fishing nets.
This article explores how private property may have saved the pilgrims.
There are three configurations of property rights: state, communal, and private property. Within a family, many goods are in effect communally owned. But when the number of communal members exceeds normal family size, as happens in tribes and communes, serious and intractable problems arise. It becomes costly to police the activities of the members, all of whom are entitled to their share of the total product of the community, whether they work or not. This is the free-rider problem, and it is the most important institutional reason tribes and communes cannot rise above subsistence level (except in special circumstances, such as monasteries).
This week, Stan teaches you about patents. It turns out, they're patently complicated!
This week, Stan teaches you about patents. It turns out, they're patently complicated! So, patents have some similarity to copyright, in that they grant a limited monopoly to people who invent things. The key difference in patents and copyright is that patents are for THINGS. Copyright is for an idea. So, if you've come up with a great new invention, like for example, a condiment gun, you should get a patent. We'll also talk about some of the limitations and problems of patents, including patent trolls
The first few years of Plymouth colony were fraught with hardship and hunger. Economics had a lot to do with it.
Next year at this time, Americans will mark the 400th anniversary of the landing of the Mayflower in 1620 and the subsequent founding of the Plymouth colony by English Puritans we know as the Pilgrims. They, of course, became the mothers and fathers of the first Thanksgiving.
The power of institutions illustrated. But what causes institutions? Can we change institutions?
This episode of Planet Money explores the self-inflicted implosion of Venezuela's economy.
Trust cannot be underrated as an important source of growth and economic development. Here is a look at what we know. Lesson: culture really matters!
A 70-year-old man with a bad cold and many mistresses, a nation that's ambivalent about a central bank, and a secret meeting on an island. Today on the show: The origin story of the Federal Reserve.
In the early seventies, Chile, under Marxist President Salvador Allende, was plagued by inflation, shortages, and a crushing deficit. After a violent coup in 1973, the economy became the military's problem.
Chile is one of the wealthiest, most stable economies in South America. But to understand how Chile got here--how it became the envy of neighboring countries --you have to know the story of a group of Chilean students who came to study economics at the University of Chicago. A group that came to be known as the Chicago Boys.
pollution, development and over harvesting have greatly diminished America's natural oyster habitat. Aquaculture and adaptable farmers have changed the game.