Informal Insurance and Sustainable Management of Common‐Pool Marine Resources in Ha'apai, Tonga

Putting free-riding to work: A Partnership Solution to the common-property problem

“…1 1 A similar arrangement seems to have been adopted by some groups of New Jersey fishermen as well, as discussed in Feeny et al (1990). A more traditional society in Tonga, as described by Bender, Kägi, and Mohr (2002) also has features of the partnership arrangement we explore here.…”

“…But if they can organize themselves into a collection of competing revenue-sharing partnerships (a common organizational form in some service industries), they can potentially reap monopoly profits. 5 There is no need for interactions to be ongoing so that the prospect of a price war in the future deters the current temptation to expand output. The revenue-sharing inherent in a partnership structure eliminates the current temptation to expand output.…”

Informal insurance in renewable resource harvesting

“…In this paper, an economic model is developed that is consistent with the Bender et al (2002) hypothesis. The model is based on a general equilibrium framework that was originally developed by Brander and Taylor (1998).…”

“…Bender et al (2002) compare coastal subsistence fisheries around two islands in the Ha'apai region of Tonga that differ in their resource stock levels. Whereas fish stocks are lower in the fishing areas of the island of U'iha, stocks are larger around the other island, Lofanga.…”

“…The general equilibrium approach therefore permits the analysis of the relationship between insuring risks through sharing rules and through the goods market. Third, the general equilibrium approach presented here is an adequate analytical description of the economic setting encountered by Bender et al (2002) in the agrarian economy of Lofanga Island, where fisheries and horticulture are the most important economic activities.…”