Wally Thurman on Bees, Beekeeping, and Coase
EconTalk
00:00
The Effects of Reciprocal Externalities on Bee Production
James Mead is a Nobel Prize winner who speculated that there would be some problems in the pollination market because of what he called, or I think has come to be called, reciprocal externalities. So it's not obvious to some economists that this market would work very well. And here's a nice story: You've got apple growers next to beekeepers. The bees themselves fly over and they collect nectar from the apples. That's helpful for the beekeeper because he produces honey. While the bees are doing this, they help pollinate apples so that produces more apples.
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