Can Reminders of Rules Induce Compliance? Experimental Evidence from a Common Pool Resource Setting

Sabrina Eisenbarth (), Louis Graham () and Anouk S. Rigterink ()
Additional contact information
Sabrina Eisenbarth: University of Exeter Business School
Louis Graham: Busara Center For Behavioral Economics
Anouk S. Rigterink: Durham University School of Government and International Affairs

Environmental & Resource Economics, 2021, vol. 79, issue 4, No 2, 653-681

Abstract: Abstract This paper presents results from an RCT exploring whether a behavioural intervention can improve the conservation of a common pool resource. The literature on common pool resource management suggests that the existence of rules and sanctions is important to resource conservation. However, behavioural science suggests that individuals have finite cognitive capacity and may not be attentive to these rules and sanctions. This paper investigates the impact of an SMS message intervention designed to improve users’ knowledge of and attentiveness to existing forest use rules. An RCT in Uganda explores the impact of these messages on forest use and compliance with the rules. This paper finds that SMS messages raise the perceived probability of sanctions for rule-breakers. However, SMS messages do not induce full compliance with forest use rules or systematically reduce forest use.

Keywords: Common pool resources; Forest; Deforestation; SMS messages; Use rules; Sanctioning (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q2 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10640-020-00526-w Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:kap:enreec:v:79:y:2021:i:4:d:10.1007_s10640-020-00526-w

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer. ... al/journal/10640/PS2

DOI: 10.1007/s10640-020-00526-w

Access Statistics for this article

Environmental & Resource Economics is currently edited by Ian J. Bateman

More articles in Environmental & Resource Economics from Springer, European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().