News

April 21-22
The Evolution of Property Rights

It has been 35 years since Harold Demsetz wrote his influential article Toward a Theory of Property Rights, in which he set forth a simple economic framework for understanding the evolution of property rights. Demsetz hypothesized that property rights in resources arise when external changes in demand or technology cause the benefits of establishing new exclusion rights to exceed the costs. Knowledge of the Demsetz perspective, though far from universal, has gradually permeated economics departments and law schools. Many commentators have drawn upon the Demsetz framework for understanding property rights in their work.

Yet some remain unconvinced that Demsetz was correct. Because it takes a model to beat a model, one question the conference will take up is whether there are rival hypotheses that provide a better explanation for changes in property rights over time. For example, can public choice's interest-group perspective supply a superior explanation for the emergence of new property rights? Alternatively, assuming that the Demsetz hypothesis is a useful one, it is still not the final word. Any hypothesis must adopt assumptions that abstract away from the details of real life, and there is always at least the potential for further progress as the initial assumptions are relaxed or changed. The conference will accordingly include both critiques and extensions of the initial Demsetz hypothesis.

In addition to considering theoretical issues, the conference will consider several historical and contemporary case studies that shed empirical light on the model. In particular, although Demsetz focused on situations in which changes in the benefits and costs of exclusion lead to resources being moved from open access status to private ownership, the conference will also examine circumstances in which the relative change in benefit and cost is the reverse, and will ask whether this leads to a movement away from private ownership back to open access status.

Saturday, April 21

8:00-8:45 a.m.
Coffee and pastries

8:45-9:00 a.m.
Introductory Remarks
David E. Van Zandt, Dean and Professor, Northwestern University School of Law

9:00-10:30 a.m.
The Economic Evolution of Petroleum Property Rights in the United States
Gary Libecap, University of Arizona
James L. Smith, Southern Methodist University

Discussant: Carol Rose, Yale University

The Extermination and Conservation of the American Bison
Dean Lueck, Montana State University

Discussant: David A. Dana, Northwestern University

Moderator: Fred McChesney, Northwestern University

10:30-11:00 a.m.
Break

11:00-12:30 a.m.
Creating Wealth By Destroying It
Douglas Allen, Simon Fraser University

Discussant: David Friedman, Santa Clara University

Entrepreneurs and Property Rights
Terry Anderson, Stanford University
Peter J. Hill, Wheaton College

Discussant: Robert Ellickson, Yale Universtiy

Moderator: Richard Brooks, Northwestern University School of Law

12:30-2:00 p.m.
Lunch

2:00-3:30 p.m.
Property Rights Evolution Following the Black Death
David D. Haddock, Northwestern University
Lynne Kiesling, Northwestern University

Discussant: Deirdre McCloskey, University of Illinois at Chicago

Public Property and Private Parking: Privatization of a Peculiar Commons
Richard Epstein, University of Chicago

Discussant: Robert Cooter, University of California at Berkeley

Moderator: Thomas Ulen, University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana

3:30-4:00 p.m.
Break

4:00-4:45 p.m.
Two Dimensions of Property Rights
Henry E. Smith, Northwestern University

Discussant: Thráinn Eggertsson, University of Iceland and
Columbia University

Moderator: Kathryn Spier, Northwestern University

Sunday, April 22

9:00-10:30 a.m.
Taste and Politics in a Theory of Property Rights
Stuart Banner, Washington University in St. Louis School of Law

Discussant: Margaret Radin, Stanford University

The (Interest Group) Case Against Private Propery
Saul Levmore, University of Chicago<

Discussant: Annelise Riles, Northwestern University

Moderator: David Haddock, Northwestern University

10:30-11:00 a.m.
Break

11:00-11:45 a.m.
The Evolution of Firms and Forms
Henry Hansmann, Yale University
Reinier Kraakman, Harvard University

Discussant: Michael Heller, University of Michigan

Moderator: Henry Smith, Northwestern University

11:45-noon
Break

noon-1:00 p.m.
The Evolution of Private Ownership Arrangements
Harold Demsetz, University of California at Los Angeles

1:00 p.m.
Lunch and/or farewell

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