Perseus Academic: The Gridlock Economy by Michael Heller

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  The Gridlock Economy

Garrett Hardin’s famous tragedy of the commons states that when no one has a significant stake in some common resource—such as a grazing meadow, a stream, or clean air—the resource is inevitably overused and eventually degraded. But what about the reverse situation-when property rights in a resource are divided up too finely, and those rights are too closely held? How can you build on a plot of land where every square inch has a different owner? This “tragedy of the anticommons”—first proposed by Michael Heller in 1998—is a problem of excessive property rights creating the underuse of resources. And the problem of the anticommons is everywhere: in excessive patent grants that prevent the development of lifesaving drugs; in real estate practices that ultimately lead to the loss of family estates; in regulations that divide up the broadcast spectrum in irrational ways; and in copyright laws that keep important works inaccessible to the public. The anticommons is a significant new idea that unifies many areas of economics, law, business, and the social sciences. The Gridlock Economy introduces the problem of the anticommons to a wide general audience, explores the different types of situations that give rise to excessive property rights, tells readers how to recognize them, and offers practical solutions.

Michael Heller is one of America’s leading authorities on ownership. He is the Lawrence A. Wien Professor of Real Estate Law at Columbia Law School and has served as the school’s Vice Dean for Intellectual Life. He lives in New York and Los Angeles.