IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ucp/jaerec/doi10.1086-683683.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Common Property Resources and New Entrants: Uncovering the Bias and Effects of New Users

Author

Listed:
  • Steven M. Smith

Abstract

Small, stable, and homogeneous user groups are expected to achieve better outcomes within common-property resource regimes. Empirical identification of these effects, however, remains difficult because user group characteristics are unlikely random across systems and data of communally managed resources are hard to come by, exposing analyses to omitted variable bias. To address this issue, I collect a panel data set of 50 communal irrigation systems in New Mexico. With annual observations from 1984 to 2011, I test for the impact of group size, new users, and group heterogeneity using fixed effects, controlling for a number of time-invariant factors that would otherwise be omitted. I find robust results demonstrating that larger user groups experience worse outcomes. However, if I forgo the fixed effects and mimic cross-sectional analysis, I identify a result smaller in magnitude and statistical significance, suggesting that omitted variable bias can account for some of the weak evidence in the existing literature.

Suggested Citation

  • Steven M. Smith, 2016. "Common Property Resources and New Entrants: Uncovering the Bias and Effects of New Users," Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, University of Chicago Press, vol. 3(1), pages 1-36.
    • Handle: RePEc:ucp:jaerec:doi:10.1086/683683
    DOI: 10.1086/683683
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/683683
    Download Restriction: Access to the online full text or PDF requires a subscription.
    File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/683683
    Download Restriction: Access to the online full text or PDF requires a subscription.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1086/683683?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sethi, Rajiv & Somanathan, E, 1996. "The Evolution of Social Norms in Common Property Resource Use," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 86(4), pages 766-788, September.
    2. Meinzen-Dick, Ruth & Raju, K. V. & Gulati, Ashok, 2002. "What Affects Organization and Collective Action for Managing Resources? Evidence from Canal Irrigation Systems in India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 30(4), pages 649-666, April.
    3. Araral Jr., Eduardo, 2009. "What Explains Collective Action in the Commons? Theory and Evidence from the Philippines," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 37(3), pages 687-697, March.
    4. Varughese, George & Ostrom, Elinor, 2001. "The Contested Role of Heterogeneity in Collective Action: Some Evidence from Community Forestry in Nepal," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 29(5), pages 747-765, May.
    5. Daniel W. Bromley, 1998. "Determinants of Cooperation and Management of Local Common Property Resources: Discussion," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 80(3), pages 665-668.
    6. Bardhan, Pranab, 2000. "Irrigation and Cooperation: An Empirical Analysis of 48 Irrigation Communities in South India," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 48(4), pages 847-865, July.
    7. Jones, Eric C., 2004. "Wealth-Based Trust and the Development of Collective Action," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 32(4), pages 691-711, April.
    8. A. Colin Cameron & Jonah B. Gelbach & Douglas L. Miller, 2011. "Robust Inference With Multiway Clustering," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(2), pages 238-249, April.
    9. Williamson, Oliver E, 1979. "Transaction-Cost Economics: The Governance of Contractural Relations," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 22(2), pages 233-261, October.
    10. Andersson, Krister P., 2004. "Who Talks with Whom? The Role of Repeated Interactions in Decentralized Forest Governance," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 233-249, February.
    11. Dayton-Johnson, Jeff, 2000. "Determinants of collective action on the local commons: a model with evidence from Mexico," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(1), pages 181-208, June.
    12. Cox, Michael & Ross, Justin M., 2011. "Robustness and vulnerability of community irrigation systems: The case of the Taos valley acequias," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 61(3), pages 254-266, May.
    13. Benin, Samuel & Pender, John, 2006. "Collective action in community management of grazing lands: the case of the highlands of northern Ethiopia," Environment and Development Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 11(1), pages 127-149, February.
    14. Alston, Lee J. & Harris, Edwyna & Mueller, Bernardo, 2012. "The Development of Property Rights on Frontiers: Endowments, Norms, and Politics," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 72(3), pages 741-770, August.
    15. Cavalcanti, Carina & Engel, Stefanie & Leibbrandt, Andreas, 2013. "Social integration, participation, and community resource management," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 65(2), pages 262-276.
    16. Mutenje, M.J. & Ortmann, G.F. & Ferrer, S.R.D., 2011. "Management of non-timber forestry products extraction: Local institutions, ecological knowledge and market structure in South-Eastern Zimbabwe," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(3), pages 454-461, January.
    17. H. Scott Gordon, 1954. "The Economic Theory of a Common-Property Resource: The Fishery," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 62(2), pages 124-124.
    18. Bereket Kebede, 2002. "Land Tenure and Common Pool Resources in Rural Ethiopia: A Study Based on Fifteen Sites," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 14(1), pages 113-149.
    19. Gjertsen, Heidi, 2005. "Can Habitat Protection Lead to Improvements in Human Well-Being? Evidence from Marine Protected Areas in the Philippines," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 199-217, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Perez-Quesada, Gabriela & Hendricks, Nathan P., 2021. "Lessons from local governance and collective action efforts to manage irrigation withdrawals in Kansas," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 247(C).
    2. Justin B. Winikoff & Dominic P. Parker, 2024. "Farm size, spatial externalities, and wind energy development," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 106(4), pages 1518-1543, August.
    3. Bryan Leonard & Gary D. Libecap, 2016. "Collective Action by Contract: Prior Appropriation and the Development of Irrigation in the Western United States," NBER Working Papers 22185, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Smith, Steven M., 2018. "From decentralized to centralized irrigation management," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 151(C), pages 62-87.
    5. Smith, Steven M., 2021. "The relative economic merits of alternative water right systems," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 105(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Behera, Bhagirath, 2009. "Explaining the performance of state-community joint forest management in India," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(1), pages 177-185, November.
    2. Gary D. Libecap, 2014. "Addressing Global Environmental Externalities: Transaction Costs Considerations," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 52(2), pages 424-479, June.
    3. Siegwart Lindenberg, 2014. "Sustainable cooperation needs tinkering with both rules and social motivation," Journal of Bioeconomics, Springer, vol. 16(1), pages 71-81, April.
    4. Villamayor-Tomas, Sergio, 2014. "Cooperation in common property regimes under extreme drought conditions: Empirical evidence from the use of pooled transferable quotas in Spanish irrigation systems," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 482-493.
    5. Okumu, Boscow & Muchapondwa, Edwin, 2020. "Determinants of successful collective management of forest resources: Evidence from Kenyan Community Forest Associations," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 113(C).
    6. Takayama, Taisuke & Matsuda, Hirotaka & Nakatani, Tomoaki, 2018. "The determinants of collective action in irrigation management systems: Evidence from rural communities in Japan," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 206(C), pages 113-123.
    7. Bouma, Jetske A. & Joy, K.J. & Paranjape, Suhas & Ansink, Erik, 2014. "The Influence of Legitimacy Perceptions on Cooperation – A Framed Field Experiment," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 127-137.
    8. Ruttan, Lore M., 2008. "Economic Heterogeneity and the Commons: Effects on Collective Action and Collective Goods Provisioning," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 36(5), pages 969-985, May.
    9. Cavalcanti, Carina & Engel, Stefanie & Leibbrandt, Andreas, 2013. "Social integration, participation, and community resource management," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 65(2), pages 262-276.
    10. Yasuyuki Sawada & Ryuji Kasahara & Keitaro Aoyagi & Masahiro Shoji & Mika Ueyama, 2013. "Modes of Collective Action in Village Economies: Evidence from Natural and Artefactual Field Experiments in a Developing Country," Asian Development Review, MIT Press, vol. 30(1), pages 31-51, March.
    11. Fijnanda van Klingeren, 2020. "Playing nice in the sandbox: On the role of heterogeneity, trust and cooperation in common-pool resources," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(8), pages 1-36, August.
    12. Leroy, David, 2023. "An empirical assessment of the institutional performance of community-based water management in a large-scale irrigation system in southern Mexico," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 276(C).
    13. Fijnanda van Klingeren & Nan Dirk de Graaf, 2021. "Heterogeneity, trust and common-pool resource management," Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, Springer;Association of Environmental Studies and Sciences, vol. 11(1), pages 37-64, March.
    14. Towa TACHIBANA & Sunit ADHIKARI, 2005. "Effects of Community and Co-management Systems on Forest Conditions: A Case of the Middle Hills in Nepal," GSICS Working Paper Series 3, Graduate School of International Cooperation Studies, Kobe University.
    15. Mabuza, Majola Lawrence & Ortmann, Gerald F. & Wale, Edilegnaw Zegeye, 2012. "Collective action in commercial mushroom production: the role of social capital in the management of informal farmer groups in Swaziland," 2012 Conference, August 18-24, 2012, Foz do Iguacu, Brazil 126764, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    16. Margaret Atosina Akuriba & Rein Haagsma & Nico Heerink, 2022. "Do Governance Perceptions Affect Cooperativeness? Evidence from Small-Scale Irrigation Schemes in Northern Ghana," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(16), pages 1-21, August.
    17. Liangzhen Zang & Yahua Wang & Yiqing Su, 2021. "Does Farmland Scale Management Promote Rural Collective Action? An Empirical Study of Canal Irrigation Systems in China," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-25, November.
    18. Wu, Jiayu & Hu, Yingjie & Liu, Tao & He, Qingsong, 2018. "Value capture in protected areas from the perspective of common-pool resource governance: A case study of Jiuzhai Valley National Park, China," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 452-462.
    19. Ke Xu & Xianli Xia, 2023. "The Influence of Farmers’ Clan Networks on Their Participation in Living Environment Improvement during the Time of Transition in Traditional Rural China," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-22, May.
    20. Smith, Steven M., 2018. "From decentralized to centralized irrigation management," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 151(C), pages 62-87.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ucp:jaerec:doi:10.1086/683683. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Journals Division (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/JAERE .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.