Co-sponsored programs between PERC and Liberty Fund are designed to expand and increase the scope of free market environmentalism. PERC and Liberty Fund conduct these educational programs to advance the exploration of liberty, the ideal of a free and responsible society, and the environment.
Upcoming Colloquia
| Property Rights, Markets, and Freedom: June 17-22, 2013 This program is designed to introduce students to a property rights and market approach to environmental issues. An understanding of these approaches will be invaluable to anyone who cares about the environment; particularly those who will choose career paths that include environmental law, public policy, economics, and teaching environmental science. |
 | Property Rights, Entrepreneurship, and the Environment: June 24-27, 2013 In this program, participants explore the principled and practical role of liberty and of property rights in particular, in protecting the environment. Invitees for this program will be participants in PERC's Enviropreneur Institute. The Institute is an intense, two-week educational experience in Bozeman, Montana for environmental entrepreneurs who want to have a better understanding of how business and economic principles can be applied to environmental problems. |
 | Reconciling Ecology and Economics: August 13-16, 2013 This colloquium will explore how self-interest and altruism manifest themselves through markets and, consequently, how they influence the connection between humans and nature. Participants will explore the connection between ecology and economics using Hayek’s insights regarding markets as processes and prices as information, and the property rights approach that stresses the importance that property rights play in making humans accountable for the cost of using scarce resources. |
 | Property Rights and Economic Development for Indigenous Peoples October 31-November 3, 2013 The purpose of this conference is to explore the relationship between liberty and property rights from a historical perspective, focusing especially on how these rights have been employed by and have impacted indigenous populations in the United States. Criticisms of property rights often reference the success of “communal property” and this conference will explore private and communal property rights. |
 | Liberty and the Progress of the Human Condition: 2014 This program will raise essential questions about the individual, his continuing progress, and the nature of liberty. Participants will consider reasons for hope as well as pessimism. Which of the theories about the progress and decline of the human condition is most hopeful for freedom and why? Where are the most pressing challenges to civilization? |
 | Hayek, Coase, and Ecosystem Services 2014 This colloquium will discuss with environmental leaders and environmental entrepreneurs the role that markets play in linking human action to the value of “ecosystem services.” |
Past Colloquia
 | Hayek, Coase, and Ecosystem Services March 14-17, 2013 This colloquium, co-sponsored with Liberty Fund, will discuss with environmental leaders and environmental entrepreneurs the role that markets play in linking human action to the value of “ecosystem services.” Learn More > |
 | Liberty and the Progress of the Human Condition: January 24-27, 2013 This program will consider the idea of exchange as the basis for human social, intellectual, and economic progress. It will address essential questions about the individual, his/her continuing progress, and the nature of liberty. Learn More > |
 | Culture, Institutions, and Economic Development: December 9-11, 2012 This colloquium will explore the relationship between liberty and property rights from a historical perspective, focusing especially on how these rights have been employed by and have impacted Native Americans. Learn More > |
Founded 30 years ago in Bozeman, Montana, PERC—the Property and Environment Research Center—is the nation’s oldest and largest institute dedicated to improving environmental quality through property rights and markets.
PERC’s publications, each designed to resonate with specific groups, move ideas generated at PERC to broader audiences.
Research is at the heart of PERC's work, with a focus on the question: What is the link between economic growth and environmental quality?
The goal of PERC’s programs is to fully realize the vision of establishing “PERC University,” where scholars, students, policy makers, and others convene to expand the applications of free market environmentalism.
PERC's fellowships share a common goal of exposing new scholars, students, journalists, and policy makers to free market environmentalism, as well as enable scholars already familiar with FME to explore new applications.
PERC continues to publish and present a broad range of research and discussion through podcasts, videos, and other multimedia channels.