When Patience Leads to Destruction: The Curious Case of Individual Time Preferences and the Adoption of Destructive Fishing Gears
Authored by Marco A Janssen, Hauke Reuter, Aneeque Javaid, Achim Schlueter
Date Published: 2017
DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2017.06.007
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Abstract
The use of destructive fishing methods is a serious problem, especially
for tropical and developing countries. Due to inter temporal nature of
fisheries extraction activities, standard economic theory suggests that
an individual's time preference can play a major role in determining the
gear choice decision. Based on earlier theoretical work we identify two
ways in which individual time preferences can impact the adoption of
destructive extraction methods; (i) the conservation effect which posits
that patient individuals (as indicated by relatively high discount
factor) are less likely to use destructive extraction methods since they
are more likely to account for the loss of future income that is
accompanied by using these methods, (ii) the disinvestment effect which
argues that patient individuals are more likely to use destructive
extraction methods since they have greater investment capability.
Using an agent-based model we clarify the conditions under which one of
these effects is more dominant than the other one. Our model suggests
that the nature of destructive gear along with the level of social
dilemma determines whether patient or impatient individuals (relatively
lower discount factor) are more likely to adopt such a gear.
Additionally agent's beliefs regarding future resource condition and
other agent's extraction level can have a major influence in some cases.
(C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Tags
Management
Agent Based Modeling
diffusion
Tanzania
fisheries
Exhaustible resources
Natural-resources
Coral-reefs
Time discounting
Individual time preferences
Natural resource
extraction
Destructive fishing methods
Discount rates
Misperceptions
Amerindians