Centralized and Decentralized Management of Local Common Pool Resources in the Developing World: Experimental Evidence from Fishing Communities in Colombia

35 Pages Posted: 8 Sep 2006

See all articles by Maria Velez

Maria Velez

University of Massachusetts at Amherst - College of Natural Resources & the Environment - Department of Resource Economics

James J. Murphy

University of Alaska Anchorage

John Stranlund

University of Massachusetts at Amherst - College of Natural Resources & the Environment - Department of Resource Economics

Date Written: September 2006

Abstract

This paper uses experimental data to test for a complementary relationship between formal regulations imposed on a community to conserve a local natural resource and nonbinding verbal agreements to do the same. Our experiments were conducted in the field in three regions of Colombia. Each group of five subjects played 10 rounds of an open access common pool resource game, and 10 additional rounds under one of five institutions - communication alone, two external regulations that differed by the level of enforcement, and communication combined with each of the two regulations. Our results suggest that the hypothesis of a complementary relationship between communication and external regulation is supported for some combinations of regions and regulations, but cannot be supported in general. We therefore conclude that the determination of whether formal regulations and informal communication are complementary must be made on a community-by-community basis.

Keywords: common pool resources, experiments, institutions, communication, regulation

JEL Classification: C93, H41, Q20, Q28

Suggested Citation

Velez, Maria and Murphy, James J. and Stranlund, John, Centralized and Decentralized Management of Local Common Pool Resources in the Developing World: Experimental Evidence from Fishing Communities in Colombia (September 2006). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=928968 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.928968

Maria Velez (Contact Author)

University of Massachusetts at Amherst - College of Natural Resources & the Environment - Department of Resource Economics ( email )

Stockbridge Hall
80 Campus Center Way
Amherst, MA 01003-9246
United States

James J. Murphy

University of Alaska Anchorage ( email )

Anchorage, AK
United States
907-786-1936 (Phone)

HOME PAGE: http://faculty.cbpp.uaa.alaska.edu/jmurphy/

John Stranlund

University of Massachusetts at Amherst - College of Natural Resources & the Environment - Department of Resource Economics ( email )

Stockbridge Hall
80 Campus Center Way
Amherst, MA 01003-9246
United States
413-545-6328 (Phone)

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