Full document / COSOC-W-86-002 - the National Sea Grant Library

Bromley (1978) considered (1) proporty rules, (2) liability
rules, and (3) inalienability rules as tho rule3 by which rights
are protected. His framework is as follows. Given two parties,
A and B, if: 1) A owns tha »ntttl«m«nt-- When A is protected by
a property rule, A may interforo with B and can only bo stopped
if B buys off A. When A is protoctod by a liability rule, B may
stop A from interfering but must coaponsato A. 2) B ssms. the
nntltlemant— When B is protectod by a property rulo, A may not
interfere with B without B's consent. When B is protected by a
liability rule, A may Interfere with B but must compensate B.
Whan B is protected by inalienability, A may not interfere with B
under any circumstances and tho stopping does not imply
compensation. Bromley (1978) also notes that transactions costs
will be higher when entitlomonts aro protected undor proporty
rules rather than liability rulos bocauso tho property rule
requires a prior agreement among tho partios. He suggests that,
as a result, Interference will likely bo greater undor tho
latter.
Property mflhts and Nonpoint gojllfia Pollution Control
The allocation of property rights to wator and its use is not
explicitly defined. Thoro is precedent to suggest that these
rights are owned in most casos by tbo farmers. Indeed, under tho
current program of voluntary BHP implementation, it can bo argued
that farmers have been ondowed with tho rights to the "use" of
water. With tho current program, those rights are protected
under a property rule, and may bo "purchased" by the public if
farmers choose to exchange thoir rights to create nonpoint source
pollution for cost sharing assistance in controlling the
pollution.
Altni-nflttvn Programs
Along with the questions regarding the effectivonoss of the
current nonpoint control program have como suggestions for
alternative programs.
Major Program Alternatives includo:
(1) Cross compliance • government farm program;
(2) Regulatory schemes - BHPs • required by law;
(3) Soil loss tax;
(ft) Tax credit, tax deduction, tax oxpendituro;
(5) Enforcement of common law;
(6) Purchase of rights.
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