ECO101 CPA 7

for Monday, September 18 Name: Natalie Griffith

Read from our FirstDay Course Materials in our readings book (The Economics of Public Issues by
Miller, Benjamin, & North) Ch 5 Economics of Exclusion.

1. Introduction. & Common Property. The California surfers and Maine lobstermen have both
devised ingenious systems to do that? What is a common property resource and give an example.
A common property example would be highways and/or streets; this is because common
property resources do not have to be owned by a government.

2. Access: Open or Closed? Distinguish between an open access and a closed access common
property resource. Give an example of each.
Streets, roads, and highways are all open access because you can access them day or night.
Whereas an example of closed access would be a monument. Monuments are open to the public
only at certain days and times, there is more of a process to access them.

3. The Problem with Open Access. What is the problem with open access?
Open access can cause congestion at popular sites/places. Congestion can lead to miserable
waits and impatient people. Not as many people will enjoy these places.

4. Surf Gangs. Who are the surf gangs? What two specific practices have they employed?
They are locations where waves are particularly conductive to high-quality surfing. This coast
is open access. They established unwritten but unmistakable rules of etiquette for each surf
break; the second is known as “localism.”

5. The Benefits of Closed Access. In what two ways do the actions of the surf gangs create benefits
and enhance economic efficiency? In what situation are the surf gangs not successful?
They limit the number of surfers on the break and having rules of etiquette, crowding and
collisions are reduced, which enhances the quality of surfing. They have also hidden hazards in
many locations, to reduce the harm on surfers.

6. Lobster Gangs. Who were the lobster gangs and what did they do? Next, what was the result of the
lobster gangs?
Lobster fisherman in Maine organized themselves into harbor gangs to prevent the over
exploitation of the lobster fishery. There were laws put on these gangs to save the population of
Maine lobsters.

7. The Gangs and the Monument. How did the National Park Service and the gangs (surf and
lobstermen) protect and enhance their respective resources.
The system they have created has evened out the flow of visitors over the course of the day,
which makes it possible for the NPS to admit more total visitors to sites.

8. No Pain, No Gain. What is the main point?

Limiting access to congested or overexploited resources has been shown repeatedly to improve
the well-being of the majority of people and increase human wealth.