The tradeoff of the commons under stochastic use

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Cao, Xiaoyong; Gong, Jiong
• 署名单位: University of International Business & Economics
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF PUBLIC ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0047-2727
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2016.11.001
• 发表日期: 2017
• 页码: 150-161
• 关键词: commons; pricing; welfare

摘要

We develop a model of scarce renewable resources to study the problem of the commons. Our model formulation differs from the existing literature in that it assumes the use of the commons to be stochastic in nature. One example is microwave spectrum for mobile and wireless communications. We investigate three mechanisms of resource allocation: free usage, the exclusive franchise, and a regulated monopoly. We show that the welfare tradeoff among these three mechanisms depends on the characteristics of the commons and their usage patterns. In particular, we find that property rights are not always the best solution. We then make four extensions that apply to spectrum allocations. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.