Asserson, Walker. 2007. "The Economists in the Garden: The Historical Roots of Free Market Environmentalism." (Working Paper)

Abstract

"Modern practitioners of free market environmentalism (FME) trace its origin to Bozeman, Montana. It was there that a few scholars gathered in the early 1970's and began publishing papers and books advocating their approach to solving environmental problems. Richard Stroup and John Baden first outlined several basic principles of FME in 'Externality, Property Rights, and the Management of our National Forests' published in the reputable Journal of Law and Economics in 1973. The authors identified problems in the management of National Forests and recommended several ideas to solve them. By the time Baden and Stroup opened their first think tank in 1978, The Center for Political Economy and Natural Resources (CPENR), Terry Anderson and P.J. Hill joined them to complete the foursome most responsible for the genesis of free market environmentalism, a movement that crossed ideological boundaries to combine the environmental ethic of the left with the economic tools of the right."