Environmental Problems in Southeast Asia: Property Regimes as Cause and Solution

Abstract

"I have been asked to prepare a brief paper on the role of property rights in the economic analysis of environmental problems in Southeast Asia. The logical starting point, it would seem, is first to talk about the causal role of property rights in the existence of environmental problems. From there we can turn our attention to how property rights must be incorporated into our economic analyses of these problems. Finally, we can address the extent to which changes in property regimes may offer scope for solving persistent environmental problems.

"In preparing my comments I was fortunate to have access to some materials regarding EEPSEA research projects between 1994 and 1996. I thought it might be useful to classify these projects into several groups."