A behavioral model of collective action in artisanal and small-scale gold mining

Adrián Saldarriaga-Isaza, Santiago Arango and Clara Villegas-Palacio
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: Adrián Saldarriaga Isaza

Ecological Economics, 2015, vol. 112, issue C, 98-109

Abstract: There is a rising global concern about mercury use in small-scale gold mining because of its harmful effects on ecosystems and human health. Associative entrepreneurship has been promoted as a way of accessing alternative techniques to address this concern. By associative entrepreneurship, in this paper we mean the creation of local associations between small-scale gold miners in order to acquire more environmentally-friendly technologies. We built a behavioral simulation model to assess the feasibility of associative entrepreneurship in the context of the public-good dilemma that gold mining communities face. The model construction is based on results from field economic experiments, and properly replicates the observed behavioral patterns; thus, it reveals that sustained collective action is possible when miners completely understand the social dilemma they face, but that self-organization is not possible. Features such as reciprocity and temptation to free ride partially explain why self-organization fails. In such a case, external intervention has a key role in promoting programs that improve the understanding of the social dilemma faced by artisanal and small-scale gold miners.

Keywords: Small-scale gold mining; Public-good dilemma; Collective action; Behavioral simulation model; Economic experiment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:112:y:2015:i:c:p:98-109

DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2015.02.002

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