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Sustainability of common pool resources: A field-experimental approach

Author

Listed:
  • Raja Timilsina

    (Kochi University of Technology)

  • Koji Kotani

    (School of Economics and Management, Kochi University of Technology)

  • Yoshio Kamijo

    (School of Economics and Management, Kochi University of Technology)

Abstract

Sustainability has become a key issue in managing natural resources together with growing concerns for capitalism, environmental and resource problems. We hypothesize that ongoing modernization of competitive societies, which we call "capitalism," affects human nature and preference in utilizing common pool resources, further endangering the sustainability. To test the hypothesis, this paper designs and implements a dynamic common pool resource game in the two types of Nepalese fields: (i) rural (non capitalistic) and (ii) urban (capitalistic) areas. We find that a proportion of prosocial people in the urban is lower than that in the rural, and urban people deplete resources more quickly than rural people. The composition of proself and prosocial people in a group and the degree of capitalism (rural vs. urban) are crucial in the sense that an increase of prosocial members in a group and the rural dummy positively affect resource sustainability by approximately 65% and by 45%, respectively. Overall, this paper concludes that when societies move toward more capitalistic environments, sustainability of common pool resources tends to be lost through changes in people’s preferences, social norms, customs and assumptions for other people. It implies that people may gradually be losing their coordination abilities for social dilemmas of resource sustainability in capitalistic societies.

Suggested Citation

  • Raja Timilsina & Koji Kotani & Yoshio Kamijo, 2016. "Sustainability of common pool resources: A field-experimental approach," Working Papers SDES-2016-6, Kochi University of Technology, School of Economics and Management, revised Apr 2016.
    • Handle: RePEc:kch:wpaper:sdes-2016-6
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Zhang Jingchao & Koji Kotani & Tatsuyoshi Saijo, 2021. "Are societies becoming proself? A topographical difference under fast urbanization in China," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 23(9), pages 12976-12993, September.

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    Keywords

    sustainability; dynamic common pool resource; capitalism; field experiment;
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