Michael Heller is one of America’s leading authorities on property. He is the Lawrence A. Wien Professor of Real Estate Law at Columbia Law School.

His new book The Gridlock Economy: How Too Much Ownership Wrecks Markets, Stops Innovation, and Costs Lives was released in 2008.  In The Gridlock Economy, Heller draws on everyday experiences - from airport delays to new-style rap music - to show why the structure of ownership matters so much more than people may realize.  Private ownership usually creates wealth, but too much ownership has the opposite effect - it creates gridlock.  This is a free market paradox that Heller discovered and it's the dynamic at the center of our gridlock economy.