Within and Between Group Variation of Individual Strategies in Common Pool Resources: Evidence from Field Experiments

Abstract

Abstract:With data from framed common pool resource experiments conducted with artisanal fishing communities in Colombia, we estimate a hierarchical linear model to investigate within-group and between-group variation in individual harvest strategies across several institutions. Our results suggest that communication serves to effectively coordinate individual strategies within groups, but that these coordinated strategies vary considerably across groups. In contrast, weakly enforced regulatory restrictions on individual harvests (as well as unregulated open access) produce significant variation in the individual strategies within groups, but these strategies are roughly replicated across groups so that there is little between-group variation. We thank Maria Claudia Lopez and members of the Faculty of Environmental and Rural Studies at Javeriana University in Bogotá, Colombia for providing outstanding support for our work in the field. At each site, the experiments would not have been possible without the assistance of local leaders who helped the research team develop credibility with local community members. We are also indebted to WWF-Colombia for coordinating the fieldwork in the Pacific Region. We received valuable comments from Juan Camilo Cardenas, Samuel Bowles, James Boyce, and Sylvia Brandt. Wendy Varner and Susanne Hale provided valuable administrative support. We assume complete responsibility for the final contents of this paper. 2 Within and Between Group Variation of Individual Strategies in Common Pool Resources:Evidence from Field Experiments Abstract: With data from framed common pool resource experiments conducted with artisanal fishing communities in Colombia, we estimate a hierarchical linear model to investigate withingroup and between-group variation in individual harvest strategies across several institutions. Our results suggest that communication serves to effectively coordinate individual strategies within groups, but that these coordinated strategies vary considerably across groups. In contrast, weakly enforced regulatory restrictions on individual harvests (as well as unregulated open access) produce significant variation in the individual strategies within groups, but these strategies are roughly replicated across groups so that there is little between-group variation.JEL Classification: C93, H41, Q20, Q28,

Extracción de recursos naturales en contextos de abundancia y escasez: Un análisis experimental sobre infracciones a cuotas en áreas de manejo y explotación de recursos bentónicos en el centro-sur de Chile

“…El experimento de campo fue diseñado basándose en el trabajo de Cárdenas et al (2000) y posteriores aplicaciones como Murphy y Cárdenas (2004), este último implementado tanto con estudiantes como en el campo. Aplicaciones y adaptaciones posteriores de este diseño incluyen las realizadas por López (2004), Vélez et al (2006), Vélez et al (2010), y Maldonado y Moreno-Sánchez (2009) y Moreno-Sánchez y Maldonado (2010).…”

Quota compliance in TURFs: An experimental analysis on complementarities of formal and informal enforcement with changes in abundance

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