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Pay little, get little; pay more, get a little more: A framed forest experiment in Tanzania

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  • Nystad Handberg , Øyvind

    (School of Economics and Business, Norwegian University of Life Sciences)

  • Angelsen, Arild

    (School of Economics and Business, Norwegian University of Life Sciences)

Abstract

How do different levels of individual payments for environmental services (PES) affect intrinsic and social motivations for forest conservation? Does introducing low levels of PES crowd out these motivations? This paper presents findings from framed field experiments (FFE) conducted with local forest users in Tanzania. The payoff structure represents a common-pool resource situation; participants’ payoffs depend on the number of trees harvested, and aggregate over-harvesting can harm future harvest. Four levels of individual PES are tested in a between-group design: no (0%), low (20%), medium (60%) and full (100%) PES, where the level is relative to the harvest value. We observe lower than theoretically predicted harvest rates at no, low and medium PES, while the opposite is true at full PES. Low PES has a weak negative effect on harvest rates among certain subgroups, while medium and full PES give strong reductions in harvest rates (c. -43% and -75%). The results suggest that low PES has little impact on local forest use in Tanzania and has on aggregate a neutral effect on intrinsic and social motivations. Increasing payments has a negative, but diminishing effect on harvest rates.

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  • Nystad Handberg , Øyvind & Angelsen, Arild, 2016. "Pay little, get little; pay more, get a little more: A framed forest experiment in Tanzania," Working Paper Series 02-2016, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, School of Economics and Business.
    • Handle: RePEc:hhs:nlsseb:2016_002
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    2. Wollni, M. & Lanza, G. & Ibanez, M., 2018. "Social capital and conservation under collective and individual incentive schemes: a framed field experiment in Indonesia," 2018 Conference, July 28-August 2, 2018, Vancouver, British Columbia 275968, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    3. Marie Ferré & Stefanie Engel & Elisabeth Gsottbauer, 2023. "External validity of economic experiments on Agri‐environmental scheme design," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 74(3), pages 661-685, September.
    4. Turpie, Jane & Letley, Gwyneth, 2021. "Would community conservation initiatives benefit from external financial oversight? A framed field experiment in Namibia’s communal conservancies," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 142(C).
    5. Yehouenou, Lauriane S. & Morgan, Stephen N. & Grogan, Kelly A., 2021. "Managing a Multiuse Resource with Payments for Ecosystems Services: A Classroom Game," Applied Economics Teaching Resources (AETR), Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 3(3), September.
    6. Bonev, Petyo & Gorkun-Voevoda, Liudmila & Knaus, Michael, 2022. "The Effect of Environmental Policies on Intrinsic Motivation: Evidence from the Eurobarometer Surveys," VfS Annual Conference 2022 (Basel): Big Data in Economics 264028, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    7. Duong, Ngoc T.B. & De Groot, Wouter T., 2020. "The impact of payment for forest environmental services (PFES) on community-level forest management in Vietnam," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 113(C).
    8. Nyanghura, Qambemeda M. & Biber-Freudenberger, Lisa & Börner, Jan, 2024. "Incentives for biodiversity conservation under asymmetric land ownership," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 219(C).
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    10. Loft, Lasse & Gehrig, Stefan & Le, Dung Ngoc & Rommel, Jens, 2019. "Effectiveness and equity of Payments for Ecosystem Services: Real-effort experiments with Vietnamese land users," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 218-228.
    11. Blanco, Esther & Moros, Lina & Pfaff, Alexander & Steimanis, Ivo & Velez, Maria Alejandra & Vollan, Björn, 2023. "No crowding out among those terminated from an ongoing PES program in Colombia," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    12. Ngoma, Hambulo & Hailu, Amare Teklay & Kabwe, Stephen & Angelsen, Arild, 2020. "Pay, talk or ‘whip’ to conserve forests: Framed field experiments in Zambia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 128(C).
    13. Oniki, Shunji & Berhe, Melaku & Negash, Teklay & Etsay, Haftu, 2023. "Do economic incentives crowd out motivation for communal land conservation in Ethiopia?," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 150(C).
    14. Cammelli, Federico & Angelsen, Arild, 2019. "Amazonian farmers' response to fire policies and climate change," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 165(C), pages 1-1.
    15. Yehouenou, Lauriane & Morgan, Stephen N. & Grogan, Kelly A., 2020. "Management of timber and non-timber forest products: Evidence from a framed field experiment in Benin, West Africa," 2020 Annual Meeting, July 26-28, Kansas City, Missouri 304627, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    16. Kanittha Tambunlertchai & Sittidaj Pongkijvorasin, 2020. "The impacts of collective threshold requirements for rewards in a CPR experiment," Environmental Economics and Policy Studies, Springer;Society for Environmental Economics and Policy Studies - SEEPS, vol. 22(4), pages 537-554, October.
    17. Isyaku, Usman, 2021. "What motivates communities to participate in forest conservation? A study of REDD+ pilot sites in Cross River, Nigeria," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    18. Bottazzi, Patrick & Wiik, Emma & Crespo, David & Jones, Julia P.G., 2018. "Payment for Environmental “Self-Service”: Exploring the Links Between Farmers' Motivation and Additionality in a Conservation Incentive Programme in the Bolivian Andes," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 11-23.
    19. Lina Moros & Maria Alejandra Vélez & Alexander Pfaff & Daniela Quintero, 2020. "Effects of Ending Payments for Ecosystem Services: removal does not crowd prior conservation out," Documentos CEDE 18590, Universidad de los Andes, Facultad de Economía, CEDE.
    20. Bonev, Petyo & Gorkun-Voevoda, Liudmila & Knaus, Michael, 2022. "The effect of environmental policies on environmental behaviors and intrinsic motivation: evidence from the European Union," Economics Working Paper Series 2207, University of St. Gallen, School of Economics and Political Science, revised Sep 2022.
    21. Moros, Lina & Vélez, María Alejandra & Corbera, Esteve, 2019. "Payments for Ecosystem Services and Motivational Crowding in Colombia's Amazon Piedmont," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 156(C), pages 468-488.
    22. Shusaku Sasaki & Takahiro Kubo & Shodai Kitano, 2024. "Prosocial and Financial Incentives for Biodiversity Conservation: A Field Experiment Using a Smartphone App," Papers 2402.18047, arXiv.org.
    23. Grillos, Tara & Bottazzi, Patrick & Crespo, David & Asquith, Nigel & Jones, Julia P.G., 2019. "In-kind conservation payments crowd in environmental values and increase support for government intervention: A randomized trial in Bolivia," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 166(C), pages 1-1.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Field experiment; PES; REDD; crowding-out; forest management; Tanzania;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C93 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Field Experiments
    • Q23 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Renewable Resources and Conservation - - - Forestry

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