06/11/2004 6:25:54 pm
Property Rights at Sea. Many market-economic reforms have been introduced in Iceland, such as privatising banks and lowering the corporate tax from 50 to 18 per cent. But one that might be of greater principal interest is property rights at sea. Before 1984, the sea was public property, i e nobody owned it. Thus, nobody cared about it and parts of it were fished empty. Then private property rights were introcuced at sea, just as everyone think is self-evident on the land. Since then, too much fish is not picked up and the fishing industry is much more efficient. Due to that increase in productivity, more resuources can be directed from fishing to other business. This is the same process all rich countries have to go through constantly. Unfortunately, these property rights are under attack from the left. The argument is the same as usual; "the sea should belong to everyone". Do they think that we would have food or that we would take care of the land if it belonged to "everyone"? Would any farmer invest in new equipment or in improvning his environment if he didn?t know if the land was his tomorrow? The battle is an old one, and still the good forces prevail in Iceland. And they should prevail in other places too: Property rights at sea would be a great export from Iceland to the EU to replace its current policy of planned economy for fishing.