Railway Dreaming: Lessons for Economic Regulators from Aboriginal Resource Management Lore

Abstract

A third party access regime changes the nature of a railway track, rendering it less private property and more a common property resource. Indeed, if an access regime is to be successful in opening track to competitive entry, it must do this. If railway track under access is a common property resource, it raises the question of how the literature on the governance of common property resources might inform the governance of railways in support of competition. This paper explores common property resource governance mechanisms used by Australia's Aborigines in the governance of their land, and finds a number of fundamental principles which could be used to assist in governing railways.

Keywords: Railway access, Aboriginal Australia

JEL Classification: P48, Z19, L51, L92