"Beggar thy Neighbor:" Testing for Free Riding in State-Level Endangered Species Expenditures

Erwin Bulte, John List and Jason Shogren

Natural Field Experiments from The Field Experiments Website

Abstract: An important public policy question that remains unresolved is whether devolution will enhance sensible policy making by exploiting informational asymmetries or, instead, trigger a "beggar thy neighbor" response and stimulate free riding amongst localities. We analyze this question within the framework of U.S. environmental policy making by scrutinizing a unique panel data set on state-level endangered species expenditure patterns. Our empirical estimates are consistent with the notion that states free ride, which may lead to an expenditure equilibrium that is not Pareto efficient.

Date: 2002
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Journal Article: "Beggar Thy Neighbor": Testing for Free Riding in State-Level Endangered Species Expenditures (2002)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:feb:natura:00513

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