Water Capitalism: The Case For Privatizing Oceans, Rivers, Lakes, And Aquifers (capitalist Thought: Studies In Philosophy, Politics, And Economics)
by Walter E. Block /
2015 / English / EPUB
2.2 MB Download
Water covers some 75% of the earth’s surface, while
land covers 25%, approximately. Yet the former accounts for less
than 1% of world GDP, the latter 99% plus. Part of the reason for
this imbalance is that there are more people located on land than
water. But a more important explanation is that while land is
privately owned, water is unowned (with the exception of a few
small lakes and ponds), or governmentally owned (rivers, large
lakes). This gives rise to the tragedy of the commons: when
something is unowned, people have less of an incentive to care for
it, preserve it, and protect it, than when they own it. As a result
we have oil spills, depletion of fish stocks, threatened extinction
of some species (e.g. whales), shark attacks, polluted and dried-up
rivers, misallocated water, unsafe boating, piracy, and other
indices of economic disarray which, if they had occurred on the
land, would have been more easily identified as the result of the
tragedy of the commons and/or government ownership and
mismanagement. The purpose of this book is to make the case for
privatization of all bodies of water, without exception. In the
tragic example of the Soviet Union, the 97% of the land owned by
the state accounted for 75% of the crops. On the 3% of the land
privately owned, 25% of the crops were grown. The obvious mandate
requires that we privatize the land, and prosper. The present
volume applies this lesson, in detail, to bodies of
water.
Water covers some 75% of the earth’s surface, while
land covers 25%, approximately. Yet the former accounts for less
than 1% of world GDP, the latter 99% plus. Part of the reason for
this imbalance is that there are more people located on land than
water. But a more important explanation is that while land is
privately owned, water is unowned (with the exception of a few
small lakes and ponds), or governmentally owned (rivers, large
lakes). This gives rise to the tragedy of the commons: when
something is unowned, people have less of an incentive to care for
it, preserve it, and protect it, than when they own it. As a result
we have oil spills, depletion of fish stocks, threatened extinction
of some species (e.g. whales), shark attacks, polluted and dried-up
rivers, misallocated water, unsafe boating, piracy, and other
indices of economic disarray which, if they had occurred on the
land, would have been more easily identified as the result of the
tragedy of the commons and/or government ownership and
mismanagement. The purpose of this book is to make the case for
privatization of all bodies of water, without exception. In the
tragic example of the Soviet Union, the 97% of the land owned by
the state accounted for 75% of the crops. On the 3% of the land
privately owned, 25% of the crops were grown. The obvious mandate
requires that we privatize the land, and prosper. The present
volume applies this lesson, in detail, to bodies of
water.