The Evolution of Property Rights to a Natural Resource: The Oyster Grounds of the Chesapeake Bay

Abstract

"Economists take an interest in property rights structures because of their importance in the definition of incentive structures. Fisheries have been analyzed as open access resources because they are not often organized around private property rights. The lack of private property rights though should not be taken to imply unlimited access. There is a need to differentiate between situations in which an institutional structure supports a system of common property rights from those in which access to a resources is truly limited. In this study, a conceptual framework of the structure and workings of property rights to natural resources is enveloped. This includes a taxonomy of possible property rights structures that differentiate s among types and degrees of common and private property. The study then compares and contrasts the differing views in the economics literature on the process by which property rights evolve."