Unearthing T. Rex: The Law and Economics of Paleontological Finds

Paul Hallwood and Thomas Miceli

No 2014-07, Working papers from University of Connecticut, Department of Economics

Abstract: This paper assesses the economic characteristics of the balance that federal law aims to achieve between the interests of paleontologists and amateur and commercial collectors of fossils on US federal lands. The objective function is taken to be the maximization of the social value of these resources. Allowing ‘open access’ to amateurs and commercial collectors would maximize search activity. However, as a fossil’s scientific value is not necessarily their priority, they may under-invest in the recovery of such information. We trace how US federal law has tried to strike a balance between search activity and scientific recovery. We also comment favorably on the developing trend of promoting professional (paleontologist)-amateur partnerships in both search and recovery.

Keywords: Fossils; scientific value; search and recovery; paleontology (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D83 H41 I23 K11 O32 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 25 pages
Date: 2014-04
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ger and nep-law
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Related works:
Journal Article: UNEARTHING T. REX: THE LAW AND ECONOMICS OF PALEONTOLOGICAL FINDS (2020)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:uct:uconnp:2014-07

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