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Coase Theoreme

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Coase’s Theorem.

If the environment is regarded as being of value why does it suffer abuse? When and how does use become abuse ? The simple answer is that these problems are examples of a combination of various aspects of what is commonly known as market failure. These include missing markets , externalities , common property and other related effects.

One line of argument is that it is the absence of defined and enforceable property rights over environmental assets that is a key issue with the implication that by assigning property rights a number of problems might be resolved. This issue is well illustrated in the celebrated ‘Tragedy of the Commons’ article by Garret Hardin in which common grazing land is subject to overgrazing. Similar problems arise from excess fishing effort being deployed in international waters. In a similar vein the use of the atmosphere is non excludable but is now no longer non rivalrous hence the problems of GHG’s and global warming etc.

This is the basis of ‘Coase’s Theorem’ which suggests that once property rights are established, optimal outcomes may be achieved via bargaining and crucially that this conclusion is independent of who is given the property right (although there are clearly distributional issues). In the simple analysis we assume perfect competition and costless bargaining ie we ignore the issue of transaction costs. A good concrete example to consider is that of a farmer who in seeking to maximise private profit uses high levels of agro-chemicals some of which run off and contaminates an adjacent river which requires costly clean-up at society’s expense. In the diagram below a positive assimilative capacity exists which means that the MEC does not start to manifest itself immediately. There is a however a question as to who ‘owns’ this as once used up it is

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