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Full-Text Articles in Law
Not So Fast, Jeffrey D. Sachs, Lisa E. Sachs, Lise Johnson
Not So Fast, Jeffrey D. Sachs, Lisa E. Sachs, Lise Johnson
Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment Staff Publications
President Barack Obama and the Republican leadership in Congress are trying to pass "fast track" legislation in order to push through major economic agreements with eleven countries of the Pacific region (the Trans-Pacific Partnership) and Europe (the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership) without the possibility for Congressional amendments. Both are being sold generally as "trade agreements," yet they involve key areas of business law and regulation far beyond trade. Before Congress approves fast track, these agreements need to be made public and exposed to thorough public scrutiny.
The Tragedy Of The Anticommons: A Concise Introduction And Lexicon, Michael Heller
The Tragedy Of The Anticommons: A Concise Introduction And Lexicon, Michael Heller
Faculty Scholarship
This article gives a concise introduction to the ‘tragedy of the anticommons.’ The anticommons thesis is simple: when too many people own pieces of one thing, nobody can use it. Usually, private ownership creates wealth. But too much ownership has the opposite effect – it leads to wasteful underuse. This is a free market paradox that shows up all across the global economy. If too many owners control a single resource, cooperation breaks down, wealth disappears, and everybody loses. Conceptually, underuse in an anticommons mirrors the familiar problem of overuse in a ‘tragedy of the commons.’ The field of anticommons …