Pigou, Coase, common law, and environmental policy: Implications of the calculation debate
✍ Scribed by E. C. Pasour
- Publisher
- Springer US
- Year
- 1996
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 987 KB
- Volume
- 87
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0048-5829
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
The implications of the calculation debate are explored for Pigouvian, Coasean, and common-law liability approaches to externality problems. There is no escaping Hayekian-Misean information problems, but the institutional setting within which environmental policies are resolved affects the domain of third-party calculation. The calculation required is likely to be significantly less under common-law arrangements than under administrative processes. The primary implication for environmental policy is that increased reliance on competitive market processes and the common law in copying with externality problems may be more effective than attempts to improve current administrative approaches. * I am indebted to an anonymous reviewer for help in clarifying the role of third-party calculation in the common law. Helpful suggestions also were received from A. Andry, S. Margolis, W. Thurman, and T. Vukina. The usual disclaimer applies.