The specification of property rights and compensation payments for conservation : an application of Bromley’s model of property rights

Abstract

Bromley developed a model of property rights which used agricultural land to illustrate how those with existing property rights had the advantage over those with emerging and competing demands, Bromley (1991) and Bromley and Hodge (1990). This is in contrast to the Coase model where there is no difference in outcome whoever held the initial property right, Coarse (1960). This paper, using property rights relating to agricultural land use as an example, reviews the Bromley model of property rights and shows how this helps to explain some of the differences in compensation paid for environmental enhancement under two schemes with differing specifications of property rights.