… is from page 74 of Richard Stroup’s concise, important, and clear 2003 book, Eco-nomics: What Everyone Should Know About Economics and the Environment (footnote excluded; links added):
Recent studies show that in countries where property rights are better protected, people are healthier and live longer due to better environmental conditions. For example, using the economic freedom index discussed earlier, Seth Norton found that in countries where property rights are protected, 93 percent of the population have access to safe drinking water, while in nations with weak property rights, only 60 percent of the population have that access. Similarly, in nations with stronger property rights, 93 percent have access to sewage treatment, while only 48 percent do in countries with weak rights. Life expectancy is 70 years in a nation with strong protection of property rights, while it is only 50 years in nations without that level of protection.
The article by Seth Norton referred to in Rick’s quotation is “Property Rights, the Environment, and Economic Well-Being,” which is a chapter in the important 1998 collection, Who Owns the Environment? (Peter J. Hill and Roger E. Meiners, eds.).
