Bruce Yandle on the Tragedy of the Commons and the Implications for Environmental Regulation

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4.7 • 4.3K Ratings

🗓️ 29 October 2007

⏱️ 85 minutes

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Summary

Bruce Yandle of Clemson University and George Mason University's Mercatus Center looks at the tragedy of the commons and the various ways that people have avoided the overuse of resources that are held in common. Examples discussed include fisheries, roads, rivers and the air. Yandle talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the historical use of norms, cooperative ventures such as incorporating a river, the common law, and top-down command-and-control regulation to reduce air and water pollution.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Econ Talk, part of the Library of Economics and Liberty. I'm your host Russ Roberts
0:13.9	of George Mason University and Stanford University's Hoover Institution. Our website is econtalk.org
0:21.2	where you can subscribe, find other episodes, comment on this podcast, and find links to
0:26.5	another information related to today's conversation. Our email address is mailadicontalk.org. We'd
0:33.6	love to hear from you. Before I introduce this week's guest, I want to mention that there
0:41.2	will again be a post-script this week after our regular conversation. So stay tuned for
0:46.3	some additional remarks after I thank today's guest. Second, I want to thank all of you
0:51.2	for writing with your feedback and suggestions. I enjoy it immensely. I try to reply to
0:56.8	most of you, but know that either way, I read everyone. It's always wonderful to hear from
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1:24.1	resources at our homepage, econtalk.org. We've now done over 70 podcasts. Every one of them is
1:32.4	available at econtalk.org for downloading or listening. So help yourself. And at the archive
1:38.5	page, we also have a search engine for finding words or phrases in that archive. My guest today is
1:45.2	Bruce Yandell of Clemson University and George Mason University's Mercata Center. He's the author
1:50.7	of numerous books, including Common Sense and Common Law for the Environment, Creating Wealth
1:56.4	in Hummingbird Economies. Our conversation will revisit and depth some issues we've touched on
2:02.2	on our recent podcasts, particularly the tragedy of the comments, market failure, and the potential
2:07.9	for the common law to improve matters. Bruce, welcome back to econtalk. Glad to have a conversation.
2:13.2	We do this morning, Russ. Bruce, what is a hummingbird economy?
	...

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