The federal government owns over one quarter of America’s land, some 28%. West of the Mississippi the proportion increases to roughly one half. In Utah it’s 70%, Nevada 85%, and California over 45%. In marked contrast federal holdings in Illinois, Indiana, and Iowa average one percent. That’s 1.0%. Why the difference? Mainly because the land […]
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Entrepreneurs are chefs who provide society with free lunches. They take known resources and arrangements and discover new ways to employ them. By doing so they increase wellbeing. Environmental entrepreneurs serve society and preserve ecology by increasing the efficiency of resource use. These environmental entrepreneurs create exceptions to the famous TANSTAAFL principle of simplistic economics. […]
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Foreword by John Baden We can learn a great deal from the recent standoff in the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. Clear and agreed upon property rights are critical to civility and productivity. It is nearly impossible to have peace and prosperity when property rights are seriously contested. This is as true in Oregon as in […]
Read MoreYellowstone National Park and Change This and the two following FREE Insights will deal with the changing environments effecting Yellowstone National Park. Yellowstone was created in 1872 as the world’s first national park. Many referred to it as “America’s Best Idea.” Ken Burns produced a 2009 PBS documentary series with that title. The goal for […]
Read MoreIntroduction by John A. Baden This week’s FREE Insight features an essay by economist, Ray Rasker a principal in the Bozeman-based organization Headwaters Economics. Ray is an expert on the economy of the emerging West. His essay celebrates the 50th anniversary of the passing of the Wilderness Act of 1964. I wrote my comments to […]
Read MoreTwo Seats at Public Lands Tables John Baden’s introduction to Scott McMillion and the Montana Quarterly The Montana Quarterly is high on my list of quality magazines. Its publisher, Scott McMillion, is an unambiguously good and talented guy who lives in the Paradise Valley, one drainage to the east of ours. Over the decades Scott […]
Read More“Improving Federal Land Management: Ecology, Equity, and Economics” I recently learned that no Green/leftist/progressive leaders have confidence in large governmental organizations. Who is the source of this knowledge? It’s Gus diZerega, a political scientist/theorist with a PhD from UC Berkeley. He recently visited from California while traveling through Yellowstone. We enjoyed several dinner conversations, mainly about progressive Green […]
Read MoreFREE is preparing for our August 25-29 seminar. We designed it for Article III federal judges and their clerks. This program will feature a field trip to Yellowstone Park. We will have presentations from the current Park Superintendent, a retired superintendent of Yellowstone, and natural scientists specializing in wildlands ecology. Ramona and I have been […]
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Minorities suffer abuses when their rights to property and person are violated. We examined historical situations involving Jews and Mormons in two recent FREE Insights (May 7 and 14). The underlying logic is clear: If people’s property is not given legal protection, then it is cheap and easy to violate their persons and strip their […]
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This is the second of two essays on the contributions of property rights to peace and prosperity. The first examined the horrific problems of the Jews. Most were caused, permitted, or exacerbated by failures to recognize their property rights. This week I consider the current grazing conflict in Nevada. I am joined by FREE research […]
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