Institutions and innovations: Property and land use in Norwegian outfields

Abstract

Norwegian outfields have potential for economic development, but this is not fully utilized. The central hypothesis discussed in the article, using an institutional analysis approach, is that existing property conditions and public regulations often constitute an unfavourable framework for economic development of the outfields. The term ‘property conditions’ comprises attributes concerning the property units, the owners and the property rights. Efficient economic development often has to entail transactions between owners and entrepreneurs, and these transactions are burdened with substantial costs and inconveniences due to those attributes. Public regulations also contribute to hampering economic development, partly directly by restricting certain uses, and partly by establishing an unstable and unpredictable institutional framework.

Keywords:

• institutions
• land use
• outfields
• properties
• transactions

Notes

1. In this respect, this article is based largely on one such study (Korsvolla et al. 2004) (see also Sevatdal 1971 Sevatdal 1985, 1998, Sevatdal & Grimstad 2003). By and large these works present statistics at county level, but contain some data at local authority level as well. In a preliminary report (Korsvolla et al. 2001), statistics on property units in the outfields were presented at the local authority level, in a rather voluminous appendix (omitted in the final report in 2004).