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Back to the Future: an Experiment on Ecological Restoration

Author

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  • Virginia Cecchini Manara
  • Eleonora Ciscato
  • Pietro Guarnieri
  • Lorenzo Spadoni

Abstract

The urgency of climate, biodiversity, and pollution crises has prompted international and national institutions to move beyond the prevention and mitigation of damages and to design policies aimed at promoting ecological restoration. In this paper, we address this emerging policy challenge by presenting experimental evidence on individuals’ propensity to contribute to restoration activities. Specifically, our design links a common pool resource game to a public good game to investigate how previous resource exploitation influences restoration decisions. We find that history matters since subjects who participate in resource depletion show a different behavior as compared to subjects who are only called to restore it. Specifically, while the former are subject to behavioral lock-ins that influence the success of restoration, the latter are more prompt to restore the more the resource is depleted.

Suggested Citation

  • Virginia Cecchini Manara & Eleonora Ciscato & Pietro Guarnieri & Lorenzo Spadoni, 2024. "Back to the Future: an Experiment on Ecological Restoration," Discussion Papers 2024/307, Dipartimento di Economia e Management (DEM), University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy.
    • Handle: RePEc:pie:dsedps:2024/307
    Note: ISSN 2039-1854
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    File URL: https://www.ec.unipi.it/documents/Ricerca/papers/2024-307.pdf
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Ecological Restoration; Common-pool resource game; Public good game;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C72 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Noncooperative Games
    • C99 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Other
    • Q48 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - Government Policy

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