Individual Response, Information, and Intergenerational Common Pool Problems

摘要

Many inter- and intra-generational environmental issues can be modeled as common pool resource (CPR) problems. While economic theory predicts overuse of the CPR, in real life we find examples of individual overuse as well as individual conservation. Employing a multi- period, depletable resource experiment, we test for heterogeneity in withdrawals from a CPR. Heterogeneity suggests differences in underlying preferences. While we cannot directly observe preferences, we do identify statistically significant individual characteristics such as age, gender, and political and religious affiliation associated with withdrawal levels.