The Law and Economics of Property Rights Conference

Session 1—The Importance of Property Rights

Open Access Versus Common Property
Thráinn Eggertsson, Professor and Olin Fellow, Columbia Law School

The Gains from Private Property
Louis DeAlessi, Professor Emeritus, University of Miami

Session 2—The Legacy of Ronald Coase

Pigou, Coase and Markets: How Important Are Externalities?
Bruce Yandle, Professor of Economics, Clemson University

Property Rights in the Firm
Yoram Barzel, Professor of Economics, University of Washington

Keynote Address

Property Rights and the Firm: The Important but Neglected Theme
Harold Demsetz, Professor of Economics, UCLA

Session 3—Escaping the Tragedy of the Commons

The Evolution of Property Rights
Terry L. Anderson, Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution and Executive Director, PERC, and P. J. Hill, Professor of Economics, Wheaton College

Contracting for Property Rights
Gary D. Libecap, Professor of Economics, University of Arizona

First Possession as the Basis of Property
Dean Lueck, Professor of Economics, Montana State University

Session 4—From One Commons to Another

Might Makes Rights
David Haddock, Professor of Law, Northwestern University

Government as Definer of Property Rights: The Tragedy of Exiting the Commons
Fred S. McChesney, Professor of Law, Northwestern University

Session 5—Constraining Government

In and Out of the Public Solutions: The Hidden Perils of Property Transfers
Richard Epstein, Professor of Law, University of Chicago

Coase's Lighthouse: A Beacon for the Study of Public Goods and Property Rights
William Fischel, Professor of Law, Dartmouth College

Concluding Remarks

Armen Alchian, Professor Emeritus, UCLA
Professor Alchian will close the conference with his reflections on what we have learned.