The Economic Way of Thinking 13th Edition by David Prychitko, Peter Boettke, Paul Heyne

Exercise 6

Two children are quarrelling about who gets to choose the program that will be watched on the family's single television set. This is a case of conflicting property rights.
(a) Should the parents tell them to work it out for themselves? Under what circumstances is this likely to produce a satisfactory resolution of the conflict?
(b) How do poorly defined property rights make it more difficult in such a case to achieve a satisfactory resolution through negotiation?
(c) Show how the parents might contribute to a resolution of the conflict first by offering adjudication, then by providing legislation.