Market Urbanism

Liberalizing cities | From the bottom up

“Market Urbanism” refers to the synthesis of classical liberal economics and ethics (market), with an appreciation of the urban way of life and its benefits to society (urbanism). We advocate for the emergence of bottom up solutions to urban issues, as opposed to ones imposed from the top down.

Who Owns the West?

By

Alex Tabarrok at Marginal Revolution – Now is the Time for the Buffalo Commons:

The Federal Government owns more than half of Oregon, Utah, Nevada, Idaho and Alaska and it owns nearly half of California, Arizona, New Mexico and Wyoming. See the map for more. It is time for a sale. Selling even some western land could raise hundreds of billions of dollars – perhaps trillions of dollars – for the Federal government at a time when the funds are badly needed and no one want to raise taxes. At the same time, a sale of western land would improve the efficiency of land allocation.

Alex suggests using the funds to buy cheaper land in the plains for The Buffalo Commons, the world’s largest nature park. I haven’t looked into the nature park idea, but I would like to see the Federal Government unload much of that land.

The MR post links to an article at a blog called Strange Maps, which uncovered the map from Stanford Magazine. Strange Maps explains:

This map details the percentage of state territory owned by the federal government. The top 10 list of states with the highest percentage of federally owned land looks like this:

1. Nevada 84.5%
2. Alaska 69.1%
3. Utah 57.4%
4. Oregon 53.1%
5. Idaho 50.2%
6. Arizona 48.1%
7. California 45.3%
8. Wyoming 42.3%
9. New Mexico 41.8%
10. Colorado 36.6%

  • This is not the entire picture, since many of the rights of land ownership, such as land improvement in roads and zoning, are exercised by local communities, it’s safer to say that 100% of the land of the United States is owned communally and not privately. What private owners have is a limited plot inside the communal land.

  • This is not the entire picture, since many of the rights of land ownership, such as land improvement in roads and zoning, are exercised by local communities, it’s safer to say that 100% of the land of the United States is owned communally and not privately. What private owners have is a limited plot inside the communal land.

  • This is not the entire picture, since many of the rights of land ownership, such as land improvement in roads and zoning, are exercised by local communities, it’s safer to say that 100% of the land of the United States is owned communally and not privately. What private owners have is a limited plot inside the communal land.

  • This is not the entire picture, since many of the rights of land ownership, such as land improvement in roads and zoning, are exercised by local communities, it’s safer to say that 100% of the land of the United States is owned communally and not privately. What private owners have is a limited plot inside the communal land.

  • Pingback: Public Lands insanity « Millard Fillmore’s Bathtub()

  • Anyone interested in the Buffalo Commons idea should visit my website, policy.rutgers.edu/faculty/popper. The idea originated with me and my wife Deborah Popper, a geographer at the City University/College of Staten Island and Princeton University. The Buffalo Commons idea has no particular connection with the Sagebrush Rebellion idea of selling of the large federal holdings from the Rockies westward. Best wishes,
    Frank Popper
    Rutgers and Princeton Universities
    fpopper@rci.rutgers.edu, fpopper@fprinceton.edu

  • Anyone interested in the Buffalo Commons idea should visit my website, policy.rutgers.edu/faculty/popper. The idea originated with me and my wife Deborah Popper, a geographer at the City University/College of Staten Island and Princeton University. The Buffalo Commons idea has no particular connection with the Sagebrush Rebellion idea of selling of the large federal holdings from the Rockies westward. Best wishes,
    Frank Popper
    Rutgers and Princeton Universities
    fpopper@rci.rutgers.edu, fpopper@fprinceton.edu

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