Property and Environment Research Center

Last updated
Property and Environment Research Center
AbbreviationPERC
Formation1980;43 years ago (1980)
Type Nonprofit
81-0393444
Legal status 501(c)(3)
Headquarters Bozeman, Montana
Board Chair
Loren Bough
Executive Director
Brian Yablonski
Revenue (2015)
$1,830,035 [1]
Expenses (2015)$2,356,797 [1]
Website https://perc.org/
Formerly called
Political Economy Research Center

The Property and Environment Research Center (PERC), previously known as the Political Economy Research Center, is a free market environmental think tank based in Bozeman, Montana, United States. Established in 1980, [2] PERC is dedicated to original research on market approaches to resolving environmental problems.

Contents

History

PERC began as an intellectual collaboration between economists John Baden and Richard L. Stroup. [3] PERC started with a simple question: "If markets can produce bread and cars, why can't they produce environmental quality?" [2]

In 1978, the two men established the Center for Political Economy and Natural Resources at Montana State University with the help of Terry L. Anderson, P.J. Hill and Ronald Johnson. Later, they founded PERC as a free-standing research institution with the goal of showing that economic freedom can improve environmental quality. [4]

While PERC later adopted the term "free market environmentalism," the original concept was called the New Resource Economics, which was discussed in an article by Terry Anderson in the American Journal of Agricultural Economics. [5] As Anderson indicated in his article in the AJAE, the New Resource Economics combined neoclassical economics, property rights, public choice, and Austrian economics.

Notable former board members, fellows and alumni include Henry N. Butler, Jonathan H. Adler, Gary Libecap, Bart Wilson, Jane S. Shaw and Bruce Yandle.

Outreach

PERC engages in research and advocacy related to free-market environmentalism and is active on issues including endangered species, water, pollution, and public lands. [4] PERC says that government policy is the root cause of much environmental degradation. The Dust Bowl Reconsidered, for instance, blames the federal Homestead Act for accelerating erosion problems by limiting claims of newly settled land to 160-320 acre (0.65 to 1.3 km2) parcels. According to this article, fragmented land ownership reduced the incentives for implementing erosion countermeasures and made it difficult for farmers to negotiate contracts for voluntary soil conservation. [6]

PERC also addresses the environmental problems of developing countries. For instance, a 2005 PERC Report noted that farmers were growing chili peppers along the boundaries of their fields to prevent elephants from damaging their crops, since elephants find spicy foods unpalatable. The chili peppers are cheaper than electric fences and can be sold as a cash crop.

PERC seeks to influence public policy by publishing guides for Congressional staff and organizing weeklong seminars for undergraduates. The organization's monthly publication, PERC Reports, regularly features articles questioning assumptions that form the basis of U.S. federal environmental law.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Environmental economics</span> Sub-field of economics

Environmental economics is a sub-field of economics concerned with environmental issues. It has become a widely studied subject due to growing environmental concerns in the twenty-first century. Environmental economics "undertakes theoretical or empirical studies of the economic effects of national or local environmental policies around the world. ... Particular issues include the costs and benefits of alternative environmental policies to deal with air pollution, water quality, toxic substances, solid waste, and global warming."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dust Bowl</span> 1930s period of severe dust storms in North America

The Dust Bowl was a period of severe dust storms that greatly damaged the ecology and agriculture of the American and Canadian prairies during the 1930s. The phenomenon was caused by a combination of both natural factors and manmade factors. The drought came in three waves: 1934, 1936, and 1939–1940, but some regions of the High Plains experienced drought conditions for as many as eight years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chili pepper</span> Varieties of peppers belonging to several species of Capsicum genus

Chili peppers, from Nahuatl chīlli, are varieties of the berry-fruit of plants from the genus Capsicum, which are members of the nightshade family Solanaceae, cultivated for their pungency. Chili peppers are widely used in many cuisines as a spice to add "heat" to dishes. Capsaicin and related compounds known as capsaicinoids are the substances giving chili peppers their intensity when ingested or applied topically. While chili peppers are pungent or "spicy", there are other varieties of capsicum such as bell peppers, which generally provide additional sweetness and flavor to a meal rather than "heat".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Renewable resource</span> Natural resource that is replenished relatively quickly

A renewable resource is a natural resource which will replenish to replace the portion depleted by usage and consumption, either through natural reproduction or other recurring processes in a finite amount of time in a human time scale. When the recovery rate of resources is unlikely to ever exceed a human time scale, these are called perpetual resources. Renewable resources are a part of Earth's natural environment and the largest components of its ecosphere. A positive life-cycle assessment is a key indicator of a resource's sustainability.

Free-market environmentalism argues that the free market, property rights, and tort law provide the best means of preserving the environment, internalizing pollution costs, and conserving resources.

Eco-capitalism, also known as environmental capitalism or (sometimes) green capitalism, is the view that capital exists in nature as "natural capital" on which all wealth depends. Therefore, governments should use market-based policy-instruments to resolve environmental problems.

The Foundation for Research on Economics and the Environment (FREE), based in Gallatin Gateway, Montana, is an American think tank that promotes free-market environmentalism. FREE emphasizes reliance on market mechanisms and private property rights, rather than on regulation, for protection of the environment. Its chairperson, John Baden, stresses decentralization: a shift of control from what he calls "green platonic despots" in the federal government to "local interests," including environmental groups. Citing conservation efforts such as those involving the Rocky Mountain Elk, Pheasants Forever, and Trout Unlimited, Baden asserts that the ideas FREE promotes have become "the norm among progressive, intellectually honest and successful environmentalists." FREE's mission is to attract and work with conservationists, conservatives, and classical liberals who treasure responsible liberty, sustainable ecology, and modest prosperity.

Agricultural economics is an applied field of economics concerned with the application of economic theory in optimizing the production and distribution of food and fiber products. Agricultural economics began as a branch of economics that specifically dealt with land usage. It focused on maximizing the crop yield while maintaining a good soil ecosystem. Throughout the 20th century the discipline expanded and the current scope of the discipline is much broader. Agricultural economics today includes a variety of applied areas, having considerable overlap with conventional economics. Agricultural economists have made substantial contributions to research in economics, econometrics, development economics, and environmental economics. Agricultural economics influences food policy, agricultural policy, and environmental policy.

John A. Baden is founder and chairman of the Foundation for Research on Economics and the Environment (FREE) based in Bozeman, Montana. In addition to FREE. he cofounded the Property and Environment Research Center (PERC), the Environmental Management MBA program at the University of Washington, and Warriors and Quiet Waters. He has taught at Indiana University, Montana State University, Utah State University, and the University of Washington. Baden and his wife, Ramona Marotz-Badem, own a ranch in Gallatin Gateway, outside Bozeman, Montana.

In economics, a common-pool resource (CPR) is a type of good consisting of a natural or human-made resource system, whose size or characteristics makes it costly, but not impossible, to exclude potential beneficiaries from obtaining benefits from its use. Unlike pure public goods, common pool resources face problems of congestion or overuse, because they are subtractable. A common-pool resource typically consists of a core resource, which defines the stock variable, while providing a limited quantity of extractable fringe units, which defines the flow variable. While the core resource is to be protected or nurtured in order to allow for its continuous exploitation, the fringe units can be harvested or consumed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Erosion control</span> Practice of preventing soil erosion in agriculture and land development

Erosion control is the practice of preventing or controlling wind or water erosion in agriculture, land development, coastal areas, river banks and construction. Effective erosion controls handle surface runoff and are important techniques in preventing water pollution, soil loss, wildlife habitat loss and human property loss.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Timothy Swanson</span>

Timothy Swanson is an American economics scholar specializing in environmental governance, biodiversity, water management, as well as intellectual property rights and biotechnology regulation.

Bruce Yandle is Dean Emeritus of Clemson University's College of Business and Behavioral Science and Alumni Distinguished Professor of Economics Emeritus at Clemson. He is a Distinguished Adjunct Professor of Economics at the Mercatus Center, a faculty member with George Mason University's Capitol Hill Campus, and a Senior Fellow with the Property and Environment Research Center (PERC). He has served as executive director of the Federal Trade Commission in Washington, D.C., and served as senior economist on the President's Council on Wage and Price Stability from 1976 to 1978.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Daniel Bromley</span> American economist

Daniel W. Bromley is an economist, the former Anderson-Bascom Professor of applied economics at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, and since 2009, Emeritus Professor. His research in institutional economics explains the foundations of property rights, natural resources and the environment; and economic development. He has been editor of the journal Land Economics since 1974.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Index of environmental articles</span>

The natural environment, commonly referred to simply as the environment, includes all living and non-living things occurring naturally on Earth.

<i>Enviro-Capitalists</i> Book by Terry L. Anderson and Donald R. Leal

Enviro-Capitalists: Doing Good While Doing Well is a 1997 book written by economists Terry L. Anderson and Donald R. Leal. In this book, Anderson and Leal further developed the concept of free-market environmentalism, which they first described in their 1992 book Free Market Environmentalism. The book argues that privatization of sectors like wildlife conservation, aquatic habitat development and environment-friendly housing is beneficial and environmental protection should be done by private entrepreneurs, not by the federal government. Enviro-Capitalists received the 1997 Choice Outstanding Academic Book Award.

Richard Lyndell Stroup was a free-market environmentalist and emeritus professor of economics at both North Carolina State University and Montana State University. He was co-founder of the Property and Environment Research Center (PERC) and a senior fellow. He was also a research fellow at the Independent Institute, adjunct scholar of the Cato Institute, and a member of the Mont Pèlerin Society. At Montana State University, he served as head of the Department of Agricultural Economics & Economics from 2003 to 2006. Stroup was director of the Office of Policy Analysis in the U.S. Department of the Interior from 1982 to 1984.

Terry Lee Anderson is an academic and author primarily focused on the intersection of economic and environmental issues in America. Anderson's works argue that market approaches can be both economically sound and environmentally sensitive. Influenced by the Austrian school of economic thought, his research helped launch the idea of free-market environmentalism and has prompted public debate over the proper role of government in managing natural resources.

Jane S. Shaw (also Jane Shaw Stroup) is an American free-market environmentalist, editor, and journalist. She is the former president of the James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal and currently is chairman of its board of directors. She is a free-lance editor and writes a blog, "Janetakesonhistory.org."

Gary Don Libecap is a Distinguished Professor of Corporate Environmental Management at the Bren School of Environmental Science & Management and Distinguished Professor of Economics at the University of California Santa Barbara. Libecap is a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research; a research fellow at the Hoover Institution; and a senior fellow at the Property and Environment Research Center, and a member of the Research Group on Political Institutions and Economic Policy, Harvard University. He was the Pitt Professor of American History and Institutions at Cambridge University 2010-11, and was previously the Anheuser Busch Professor of Entrepreneurial Studies, Economics, and Law at the University of Arizona.

References

  1. 1 2 "Property and Environment Research Center" (PDF). Foundation Center. Retrieved 16 February 2017.
  2. 1 2 "PERC's History | PERC – The Property and Environment Research Center". www.perc.org. Retrieved 2017-07-17.
  3. Stroup, Richard; Baden, John (October 1973). "Externality, Property Rights, and the Management of Our National Forests". The Journal of Law and Economics. 16 (2): 303–312. doi:10.1086/466768. ISSN   0022-2186. S2CID   154738820.
  4. 1 2 Frohnen, Bruce; Beer, Jeremy; Jeffrey, Nelson (2014). American Conservatism: An Encyclopedia. Open Road Media. ISBN   9781497651579.
  5. Anderson, Terry L. (December 1982). "The New Resource Economics: Old Ideas and New Applications" (PDF). American Journal of Agricultural Economics. 64 (5): 928–934. doi:10.2307/1240760. JSTOR   1240760.
  6. Benjamin, Daniel (December 10, 2004). "The Dust Bowl Reconsidered". PERC. Retrieved 14 September 2016.