Environmental problems deserve free market solutions: Our Words

Today, the Competitive Enterprise Institute is pleased to publish CEI President Kent Lassman’s lecture entitled The Environment, the Law, Markets, and the Path Forward. Lassman delivered the address at an event hosted by the Pharos Foundation at Jesus College, a constituent college of the University of Oxford.

Environmental policy in the US and UK has been shaped by statutory law and regulation, a top-down approach that freezes out local solutions to local problems. This policy strategy has created a disconnect between local environmental needs and the lawmakers who create policy.

The solution to environmental problems is policy solutions vested in common law and free market principles, Lassman argues.

“When we join common law to free market principles, we place ourselves within a context where we can continue to learn and solve disputes as they arise without the need to foresee every outcome or consequence of regulation,” Lassman argues.

Applying these two American traditions to environmentalism respects nature and its complexities, furthers technological progress, and supports people who face unique environmental problems. Policymakers should aim to foster stewardship that protects the environment and allows room for entrepreneurship and innovation.

“Free market principles applied to environmental objectives means both human and wildlife populations can flourish.”

This publication is the first in a series of CEI published lectures entitled “Our Words.”

Read The Environment, the Law, Markets, and the Path Forward on CEI.org.