The Yale Law Journal

Daniel Fitzpatrick

Essay

Evolution and Chaos in Property Rights Systems: The Third World Tragedy of Contested Access

Daniel Fitzpatrick

115 Yale L.J. 996 (2006)

According to conventional law-and-economics theory, private property rights tend to evolve as resource values rise. This optimistic assessment fails to explain the development of open access in many Third World property systems. Indeed, while the evolution of property has bee…