Property Rights, Sustainability and Public Choice

Sustainability implies a non-degrading use of natural resources in the long term. Property systems, on the other hand, institutionalise existing resource use practices in a fixed timeframe. Where outcomes such as third party effects have not been anticipated, property systems need to be modified or attenuated. The use of pastoral lease land in New Zealand exhibits these features and some attenuation is therefore desirable in new legislation. This paper reports a personal attempt to achieve these ends through bureaucratic reform and personal representation