Commons, Social Choice, Property Rights

Abstract: Based on an approach related to Williamson´s and Ostrom´s works, this paper aims to analyze the economic implications of the development of different systems of Commons and collective Property Rights. In the first part, I will show how the economic literature conceives the problem of commons and anticommons. In the second part, after some methodological considerations, I will specify the different elements necessary to build a function of collective welfare, I will define the concept of viability of a particular mode of governance and show why, when the transaction costs are positive, the governance based on private negotiation is not systematically the most efficient mechanism in terms of social welfare.
Keywords: Commons, Social Choice, Property Rights