Private Rights in Public Resources: Equity and Property Allocation in Market-Based Environmental Policy.

• Position: Brief Article - Book Review

Leigh Raymond. 1616 P Street NW, Washington, D.C. 20036: RFF Press, 2003. (202) 329-5028. www.rffpress.org. ISBN 1-891853-69-4. 244 pp. $55.00 Hardcover. ISBN 1-891853-68-6. 264 pp. $21.95 Paperback.

Privatizing public resources by creating stronger property rights, including so-called "rights to pollute," is an increasingly popular environmental policy option. While advocates of this type of market-based environmental policy tend to focus on its efficiency and ecological implications, such policies raise important considerations of equity and distributive justice. These ethical implications are confronted in Private Rights in Public Resources, which balances political theory and philosophy with detailed analysis of the politics surrounding three important policy instruments--the Kyoto Protocol, the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments, and the 1934 Taylor Grazing Act.

Raymond reviews legislative records and administrative documents and interviews key policy makers. Confirming...