“The major international energy issue should not be climate change. It should be, per Guillermo M. Yeatts, country-by-country privatization of subsurface mineral rights to benefit the mass of surface owners and would-be entrepreneurs.”
He was a true friend of private property, free markets, the rule of law, and goodwill for all. He was a successful entrepreneur in the US and Latin America. He was a thinker and doer, building up an intellectual case for public policy reform and acting on it. And for a lot of us, he made classical liberalism more fun.
Guillermo M. Yeatts recently died just short of his 81st birthday. Born in Buenos Aires, he studied in America and successively rose in business in the US and in Argentina (see Appendix A). As he advanced, he embraced classical liberal think tanks at home and abroad, including the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE), the Institute for Energy Research (IER), the Atlas Society, and Fundación Atlas 1853.
…“The story of the carbon tax’s fading appeal, even among groups that like it in principle, shows the difficulties of crafting a politically palatable solution to one of the world’s most urgent problems — including greenhouse gas levels that are on track to reach a record high this year. ‘This aversion to taxes in the U.S. is high and should not be underestimated,’ said Kalee Kreider, a former Gore adviser and longtime climate activist. ‘I have a lot of scars to show for that’.”
“‘You do have this irony, and that is the policy that is overwhelmingly endorsed by economists of the right, the center, and the left as the best way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is inverse with what is politically feasible,’ said Barry Rabe, a University of Michigan professor who has studied carbon taxes.”
The fuel-tax riot in Paris.
…“Private governance can be found in other examples in the oil and gas industry. Just think of the whole communities that exist on offshore oil and gas platforms. Why? Again as explained by Edward Stringham, ‘in many cases government officials do not have the knowledge, incentive or ability to enforce contracts or property rights in a low cost way’.”
Can the private sector assume functions now assumed if not monopolized by government? Such as building what is normally considered public infrastucture?
The answer is yes, as documented by examples and in theory. Regarding the latter, Edward Stringham explains:
…Government is often dysfunctional and crowds out private sources of order, or it is simply absent or too costly to use. That means parties can either live with their problems or attempt to solve them.