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  3. American Economic Journal: Economic Policy
  4. February 2019
  5. Patchwork Policies, Spillovers, and the Search for Oil and Gas

Patchwork Policies, Spillovers, and the Search for Oil and Gas

  • Eric Lewis
American Economic Journal: Economic Policy
vol. 11, no. 1, February 2019
(pp. 380-405)
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Abstract

The United States has a complex patchwork of mineral ownership, where rights to oil and gas may be owned by the federal government, state governments, or private agents. I show why the policies imposed by one owner have theoretically ambiguous spillover effects on the drilling and production outcomes of neighboring plots of land. Exploiting a natural experiment in Wyoming with exogenous ownership assignment, I find significant spillovers: federal land close to state land has a lower probability of drilling than federal land far from state land.

Citation

Lewis, Eric. 2019. "Patchwork Policies, Spillovers, and the Search for Oil and Gas." American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 11 (1): 380-405. DOI: 10.1257/pol.20160373

Additional Materials

JEL Classification

  • H82 Governmental Property
  • L71 Mining, Extraction, and Refining: Hydrocarbon Fuels
  • P14 Capitalist Systems: Property Rights
  • Q35 Hydrocarbon Resources
  • Q38 Nonrenewable Resources and Conservation: Government Policy
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