Property rights are a tool humans use in regulating their use of natural resources. Understanding how rights to resources are assigned and how they are controlled is critical to designing and implementing effective strategies for environmental management and conservation.Rights to Nature is a nontechnical, interdisciplinary introduction to the systems of rights, rules, and responsibilities that guide and control human use of the environment. Following a brief overview of t...

This new volume from the Society for Economic Anthropology examines the unique contributions of anthropologists to general economic theory. Editor Jean Ensminger and other contributors challenge our understanding of human economies in the expanding global systems of interaction, with models and analyses from cross-cultural research. They examine a broad range of theoretical concerns from the new institutionalism, debates about wealth, exchange, and the evolution of social institutions, the...

Questions about the origins of human cooperation have long puzzled and divided scientists. Social norms that foster fair-minded behavior, altruism and collective action undergird the foundations of large-scale human societies, but we know little about how these norms develop or spread, or why the intensity and breadth of human cooperation varies among different populations. What is the connection between social norms that encourage fair dealing and economic growth? How are these social nor...