Research
Reports
Eight Great Myths of Recycling
Eight Great Myths of Recycling, by Daniel K. Benjamin, exposes the errors and falsehoods underlying the rhetoric. It clarifies the appropriate role of recycling, based on history and market relationships.
Restoring Harmony in the Klamath Basin
Restoring Harmony in the Klamath Basin explains how this conflict developed and offers a solution—markets in water. Written by Roger Meiners and Lea-Rachel Kosnik, this paper persuasively argues that clarification of property rights to water is fundamental to ending the crisis.
Farming for the Future: Agriculture’s Next Generation
Agriculture has proven that it can feed the world. Ever-increasing yields and changing demographics have ensured the cultivation of sufficient food; only distribution remains an obstacle.
Regulation by Litigation: The Diesel Engine Episode
This paper discusses a new form of regulation. Rather than issuing rules, some government agencies, including the Environmental Protection Agency, have started to file lawsuits.
Population Growth, Economic Freedom, and the Rule of Law
Seth Norton shows that the impacts of rapid population growth are not as severe as most people believe. Even more important, he shows how changes in a country's legal system and economic framework can overcome the problems caused by population growth.
The National Forests: For Whom and for What?
"The nation finds itself struggling with forest management systems that do not work," says Roger Sedjo, a Senior Fellow with the Washington, D.C.-based research organization Resources for the Future. "The future management of the national forests is unlikely to be smooth, because no political consensus exists."
Pesticides and Property Rights
Two PERC researchers, reviewing the history of the banned pesticide DDT, have concluded that violation of private property rights lies at the heart of the conflict over DDT.
Is No Use Good Use?
Americans are on the fast track to land preservation as more and more federal land is set aside at an increasingly rapid pace. Now is the time to pause and ask if locking up great expanses of land provides the good stewardship that we want for our public lands.
Economic Growth and the State of Humanity
Economic Growth and the State of Humanity, by Indur M. Goklany, emulates and builds upon the contributions that Julian Simon made in reporting on the progress of humankind.