Do Catch Shares Increase Prices? Evidence from US Fisheries

Abstract

Rights-based management of fshery resources theoretically allows frms to minimize the cost of extraction without the threat that other harvesters will take their allocations, but added fexibility also allows frms to exploit revenue margins such that frms balance potential revenue gains with potential cost savings. Using two approaches, diference-in-diferences with an index of seafood prices and synthetic control, we test for revenue gains in 39 U.S. fsheries that adopted market-based regulations and fnd mixed evidence of price increases. Species with price increases tend to have viable fresh markets or other features that discourage gluts, whereas species with price decreases plausibly have more to gain on the cost side or are part of a multispecies complex with a higher-value species experiencing a price increase.