FRAGMENTED OWNERSHIP AND NATURAL RESOURCE USE: EVIDENCE FROM THE BAKKEN

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Leonard, Bryan; Parker, Dominic P.
• 署名单位: Arizona State University; Arizona State University-Downtown Phoenix; University of Wisconsin System; University of Wisconsin Madison
• 刊物名称: ECONOMIC JOURNAL
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0013-0133
• DOI: 10.1093/ej/ueaa097
• 发表日期: 2021
• 页码: 1215-1249
• 关键词: PROPERTY-RIGHTS; contractual failure; land fragmentation; OIL; INVESTMENT; tragedy; institutions; PRODUCTIVITY; anticommons; taxation

摘要

Does land fragmentation impair spatially expansive natural resource use? We conduct empirical tests using ownership variation on the Bakken, one of the world's most valuable shale oil reserves. Long before shale was discovered, US policies created a mosaic of private, jointly owned and tribal government parcels on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation. We find that all three forms of fragmentation reduced production during the 2010-15 oil boom, especially joint ownership and the interspersion of small parcels of government and private land. We estimate implied gains from consolidation and discuss implications for the use (or conservation) of other spatially expansive resources.