The Evolution of Property Rights

A model of the "optimal commons" shows how property tenures result from the interaction of transactions costs among those people using a resource in common and the costs of excluding noncommoners. The model shows that, under some circumstances, demographic and economic growth will induce a change toward individual property, while under other circumstances, growth can lead toward common property. Empirical examples of these shifts are discussed. Collective governance institutions are critical to the process; in fact, changes in governance institutions can lead to property rights changes in the absence of changes in underlying economic factors.