The Market for Conservation Law

Abstract

This paper considers the extent to which there is, or should be, a market for environmental law. Conservation easements raise interesting issues for the law market because they resemble private arrangements through which property owners arrange their own property rights, and therefore arguably should be able to choose the law that applies to these rights. An important contribution of this paper is its treatment of a particular type of market for easement law – that is, a market for law unbundled from other attributes of the enacting jurisdiction. More generally, this paper adds to the literature on environmental law by showing how background legal institutions, including choice-of-law rules, can affect the law’s movement toward efficient enforcement of contracts and property rights.

JEL Classification: H23, H77, K11, K32, Q56