The Property and Environment Research Center ( PERC ), previously known as the Political Economy Research Center , is a free-market environmentalist think tank based in Bozeman, Montana , United States . Established in 1980, PERC is dedicated to original research on market approaches to resolving environmental problems.
6-494: PERC began as an intellectual collaboration between economists John Baden and Richard L. Stroup . PERC started with a simple question: "If markets can produce bread and cars, why can't they produce environmental quality?" In 1978, the two men established the Center for Political Economy and Natural Resources at Montana State University with the help of Terry L. Anderson , P.J. Hill and Ronald Johnson. Later, they founded PERC as
12-593: A free-standing research institution with the goal of showing that economic freedom can improve environmental quality. While PERC later adopted the term "free market environmentalism," the original concept was called the New Resource Economics, which was discussed in an article by Terry Anderson in the American Journal of Agricultural Economics . As Anderson indicated in his article in the AJAE,
18-718: Is the root cause of much environmental degradation . The Dust Bowl Reconsidered , for instance, blames the federal Homestead Act for accelerating erosion problems by limiting claims of newly settled land to 160-320 acre (0.65 to 1.3 km) parcels. According to this article, fragmented land ownership reduced the incentives for implementing erosion countermeasures and made it difficult for farmers to negotiate contracts for voluntary soil conservation. PERC seeks to influence public policy by publishing guides for Congressional staff and organizing weeklong seminars for undergraduates. The organization's monthly publication, PERC Reports, regularly features articles questioning assumptions that form
24-661: The University of Washington . Baden and his wife, Ramona Marotz-Badem, own a ranch in Gallatin Gateway , outside Bozeman , Montana. In 1977 Baden co-authored Managing the Commons with Garrett Hardin , the author of the essay " The Tragedy of the Commons ". The book, which is currently out of print, is a collection of articles exploring the themes raised in Hardin's original essay. Table of Contents of Managing
30-494: The New Resource Economics combined neoclassical economics, property rights, public choice, and Austrian economics. Notable former board members, fellows and alumni include Tim Sheehy , Henry N. Butler , Jonathan H. Adler , Gary Libecap , Bart Wilson , Jane S. Shaw , Bruce Yandle . PERC engages in research and advocacy related to free-market environmentalism and is active on issues including endangered species, water, pollution, and public lands. PERC says that government policy
36-868: The basis of U.S. federal environmental law. John Baden John A. Baden is founder and chairman of the Foundation for Research on Economics and the Environment (FREE) based in Bozeman, Montana . In addition to FREE. he cofounded the Property and Environment Research Center (PERC), the Environmental Management MBA program at the University of Washington, and Warriors and Quiet Waters. He has taught at Indiana University , Montana State University , Utah State University , and
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