Reining In the Wild Horse Crisis
Incentive payments for wild horse and burro adoptions will benefit wild horses and burros, rangeland health, and taxpayer wallets.
Distributional Effects of Environmental Markets
Christopher CostelloA collection of papers exploring the role market design plays in the distributional consequences of the transition to market-based environmental protection.
Parks Without Politics
The government shutdown served as a reminder that it's time to take the politics out of conserving our national parks.
Why Congress, Not the President, Should Lead on Environmental Protection
Jonathan WoodWhen Congress makes environmental decisions the outcome will likely reflect more consensus and compromise than when the executive branch decides.
Markets for Clean Water
Jonathan WoodMarkets to address stream quality issues should include water quality trading.
Conserving African Wildlife
Catherine E. Semcer, Hannah DowneyStatement prepared by Catherine Semcer and presented by Hannah Downey for the U.S. Department of the Interior's International Wildlife Conservation Council on market approaches for wildlife conservation in Africa.
What Makes Conservation “Collaborative”?
Jonathan WoodIncentives and voluntary cooperation are a win-win for the greater sage grouse.
Bureaucratic Overhead: What Share of Species’ Funding Should Go to Red Tape?
Jonathan WoodAn alternative idea on how to best spend money to conserve endangered species.
About PERC
Founded in 1980 in Bozeman, Montana, PERC—the Property and Environment Research Center—is the home of free market environmentalism. Our research is dedicated to harnessing the power of markets and property rights to improve environmental quality.
Research Areas
Public Lands
An Antiquated California Water Law Encourages Political Conflict Rather than Market Transactions
Transition policies should end when they outlive their usefulness.
What Happens When the Government Shuts Down?
The downside to pervasive permitting.
Reducing Fire Risk While Protecting Environmental Values
Reducing forest fire risks requires market incentives and free enterprise.
Wildlife
EconTalk: Catherine Semcer on Poaching, Preserves, and African Wildlife
A podcast on the role of incentives in preserving wildlife in Africa.
Zinke Rides On
Controversy aside, he enacted real reforms.
The Endangered Species Act Won’t Save Africa’s Giraffes
Saving the species depends on harnessing American investment.
Water
An Antiquated California Water Law Encourages Political Conflict Rather than Market Transactions
Transition policies should end when they outlive their usefulness.
Destabilizing Property Rights with a Canoe Paddle
Outdoor recreation activists can better expand access by amicably negotiating with landowners.
Environmental Restoration Requires Better Incentives
A property-based approach and incentives top regulation to entice environmentally friendly practices when destruction began years ago.
Private Lands
The Conservation-Easement Conundrum
Conservation easements are on the rise. But are tax breaks the most equitable—and effective—way to finance them?
Conservation through Compromise or Conflict
The agreement in the “conservation deal of the century" demonstrates the benefits of pursuing conservation through negotiation.
Like the Stars
As New West meets Old West, conflict is the norm. It doesn’t have to be.
Tribes
Tribal Energy Resources: Reducing Barriers to Opportunity
PERC's testimony before the U.S. Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on the Interior, Energy, and Environment's hearing on tribal energy development.
Give Tribes Real Authority in Bears Ears National Monument
It’s time for Congress to act to provide meaningful co-management of Bears Ears to Native Americans.
Give Bears Ears To Native Americans
If tribes are going to get more say in protecting sacred sites, like Bears Ears, they will have to have a greater role than consultation.
Fisheries
Is the Era of Overfishing Coming to a Close in the U.S.?
How catch shares are helping to restore fish populations.
Conserving Taimen in Mongolia
In Mongolia, Taimen, a fish in the salmon and trout family, are being protected by catch-and-release fishing.
Save Fish, Establish Property Rights
Where property rights have been made clear, secure, and transferable, overfishing has been reduced.
Publications
Volume 37, No.2, Winter 2018
The Road to Recovery
The Unintended Consequences of U.S. Conflict-Mineral Regulation
Volume 37, No.1, Summer 2018
Volume 36, No.2, Winter 2017
A New Landscape: 8 Ideas for the Interior Department
Mobilizing Markets to Reduce Bycatch in Marine Fisheries
Clearing the Smoke from Wildfire Policy: An Economic Perspective
Volume 36, No.1, Summer 2017
Environmental Policy in the Anthropocene
