Download This PaperAnticommons. A Very Brief Introduction With Selected Applications
In: Mengerian Economics, edited by Jasiński, Ł., Sielska, A., & Turowski, K. Edward Elgar Publishing, 2023, pp. 168-181.
21 Pages Posted: 21 Oct 2022 Last revised: 2 Jun 2023
Date Written: October 5, 2022
Abstract
The concept of anticommons has been gaining researchers’ interest over the past 25 years. Although it is not fully novel and occasionally repeats otherwise known theses, it introduces a both simple and useful conceptual framework for thinking about legal institutions. Thanks to this, the theory of anticommons elegantly deepens our understanding of such phenomena as patents, property, antitrust policy, or bureaucracy.
This chapter offers a very concise introduction to the concept of anticommons. It begins with the theoretical foundations, proceeds to a simple diagrammatical exposition, and finally points to several applications. In addition, the chapter suggests that the conceptual grid for analyzing anticommons was available already in the early days of the Austrian school of economics.
Keywords: anticommons, commons, the tragedy of the anticommons, entropy in property, right to use, right to exclude
JEL Classification: D02, K10, K11
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation