TITLE: Spatial Property Rights and Efficient Resource Use

	BY: Chris Costello, UCSB

ABSTRACT:  We consider economic and ecological effects of spatial property rights to govern a renewable resource, e.g. a fishery.  
We generalize the notion of unitization - developed to enhance cooperative extraction of oil and gas fields - and apply it to 
renewable resources which also face a spatial commons problem.  We explore game theoretic outcomes under decentralized spatial 
property rights with spatial externalities. Using a calibrated simulation model featuring patch-specific productivity and spatial 
connectivity, we find that complete unitization can increase total fishery profits by up to 300% relative to no profit sharing, 
however not all individual patches would prefer such an arrangement.  Unitization induces cooperation, and may give rise to voluntary 
closures of areas, creating de facto protected areas on private property.