Terry L. Anderson and Jane S. Shaw

Environment and conservation policies in the United States over the past few decades have been equated in the public’s mind with government action to regulate pollution and manage publicly owned land. In the following viewpoint, Terry L. Anderson and Jane S. Shaw argue that a growing number of economists have called for alternative approaches to environmental protection and that basic theories on how free markets operate can explain and provide solutions to environmental problems. Extending private property rights to parks and wilderness areas, in this view, can be superior to government management and regulation in conserving natural habitats and protecting the environment. Anderson is executive director and Shaw a senior associate of the Political Economy Research Center, an organization that promotes free-market approaches to conservation...