This article suggests that the law of Deuteronomy 23:25, 26, which allows all people unlimited access to fields, is referring to ownerless fields that have only two possible uses, as farmland or as passageways for travelers. If the value of the land as a pathway for travelers is greater than the value of the land as farmland, then the field will remain as a passageway. However, if the value of the land as farmland is greater than the value of the land as a passageway, then the farmers will cultivate the land, provided the transaction costs from cultivating the land is lower than the expected benefits from the produce. These examples correspond to the Coase Theorem, as absent transaction costs, the land will achieve its maximum efficiency, but with sufficient transaction costs, then the land will not be used productively and will remain barren.
Andrew Schein, "A Biblical Precedent for the Coase Theorem?" Journal of Markets & Morality 7, no. 2 (Fall 2004): 495-504