Two Cases of Property Rights and the Tragedy of the Commons in Los Angeles

Here are two quick case studies of allocating public property in Los Angeles. In this first case , a doctor has just been sentenced to 5 years in jail after he drove in front of two cyclists and slammed the brakes and they were injured as they hit his back bumper.

He appears to have a vigilante streak as he claims that cyclists had been rude to him as the bikers and cars share common roads in the Brentwood Canyons. I must say that I saw this even more vividly in Beijing. In Beijing, there is an awkward transition taking place as there is huge car growth but still a lot of urban bike riders. Traffic laws are not exactly enforced and orderly chaos rules but there is plenty of risk of traffic accidents.

But, in this LA case --- the doctor was attempting to privatize the commons and to make sure that drivers could drive at regular speed (30 MPG) rather than being nice to bikers and driving slow behind them.

In this 2nd story, the Los Angeles port now forbids older trucks (any built before 1988) from shipping from the ports. In the recent past, these trucks had greatly contributed to local particulate emissions. While economists would prefer to have an emissions tax (based on mileage and the emissions factor (emissions per mile of driving and this could be measured at a Smog Check), this ban on old trucks effectively transfers income from the truckers who owned the old trucks to the "victims" who live near the ports and were breathing that air. The regulation effectively transfers property rights back to the victims. Will rents rise in those communities? Will the real winner be the landlords who own the land there? This article does have an interesting discussion of how unions gain from this regulation.