Cooperation and the management of local common resources in remote rural communities
It is widely recognized that local management of common pool resources can be more efficient and more effective than private markets or top-down government management, especially in remote rural communities in which the institutions may be weak or prone to elite capture. In this paper, we explore th...
| Autores principales: | , , , |
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| Formato: | Journal Article |
| Lenguaje: | Inglés |
| Publicado: |
Cambridge University Press
2026
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| Materias: | |
| Acceso en línea: | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/177207 |
| _version_ | 1855515857863573504 |
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| author | Ward, Patrick S. Alvi, Muzna Makhija, Simrin Spielman, David J. |
| author_browse | Alvi, Muzna Makhija, Simrin Spielman, David J. Ward, Patrick S. |
| author_facet | Ward, Patrick S. Alvi, Muzna Makhija, Simrin Spielman, David J. |
| author_sort | Ward, Patrick S. |
| collection | Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace) |
| description | It is widely recognized that local management of common pool resources can be more efficient and more effective than private markets or top-down government management, especially in remote rural communities in which the institutions may be weak or prone to elite capture. In this paper, we explore the propensity for cooperation in the management of local common resources by introducing a variant of a public goods game among remote rural communities in the state of Odisha, in eastern India. We explore various patterns of cooperation, including free riding behaviour, unconditional cooperation and conditional cooperation, in which individuals’ propensity toward cooperation is tied to their beliefs about the level of cooperation among their peers. We find that a significant portion of our sample fall into this latter category, but also that their expectations about the level of contributions among their peers are somewhat malleable.
JEL classification: Q32, Q12, C72 |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | CGSpace177207 |
| institution | CGIAR Consortium |
| language | Inglés |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| publishDateRange | 2026 |
| publishDateSort | 2026 |
| publisher | Cambridge University Press |
| publisherStr | Cambridge University Press |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | CGSpace1772072026-01-02T15:32:42Z Cooperation and the management of local common resources in remote rural communities Ward, Patrick S. Alvi, Muzna Makhija, Simrin Spielman, David J. cooperation management resources rural areas It is widely recognized that local management of common pool resources can be more efficient and more effective than private markets or top-down government management, especially in remote rural communities in which the institutions may be weak or prone to elite capture. In this paper, we explore the propensity for cooperation in the management of local common resources by introducing a variant of a public goods game among remote rural communities in the state of Odisha, in eastern India. We explore various patterns of cooperation, including free riding behaviour, unconditional cooperation and conditional cooperation, in which individuals’ propensity toward cooperation is tied to their beliefs about the level of cooperation among their peers. We find that a significant portion of our sample fall into this latter category, but also that their expectations about the level of contributions among their peers are somewhat malleable. JEL classification: Q32, Q12, C72 2026 2025-10-17T19:50:07Z 2025-10-17T19:50:07Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/177207 en Open Access Cambridge University Press Ward, Patrick S.; Alvi, Muzna; Makhija, Simrin; and Spielman, David J. Cooperation and the management of local common resources in remote rural communities. Environment and Development Economics. Article in press. First published online October 9, 2025. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1355770X25100181 |
| spellingShingle | cooperation management resources rural areas Ward, Patrick S. Alvi, Muzna Makhija, Simrin Spielman, David J. Cooperation and the management of local common resources in remote rural communities |
| title | Cooperation and the management of local common resources in remote rural communities |
| title_full | Cooperation and the management of local common resources in remote rural communities |
| title_fullStr | Cooperation and the management of local common resources in remote rural communities |
| title_full_unstemmed | Cooperation and the management of local common resources in remote rural communities |
| title_short | Cooperation and the management of local common resources in remote rural communities |
| title_sort | cooperation and the management of local common resources in remote rural communities |
| topic | cooperation management resources rural areas |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/177207 |
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