Can Reminders of Rules Induce Compliance? Experimental Evidence from a Common Pool Resource Setting
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Can Reminders of Rules Induce Compliance? Experimental Evidence from a Common Pool Resource Setting Sabrina Eisenbarth1 · Louis Graham2 · Anouk S. Rigterink3 Accepted: 16 November 2020 © The Author(s) 2020
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 JEL Classification Q2 · Q56 · O13
Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s1064 0-020-00526-w) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. * Sabrina Eisenbarth [email protected] Louis Graham [email protected] Anouk S. Rigterink [email protected] 1
Land, Environment, Economics and Policy Institute (LEEP), University of Exeter Business School, Xfi Building, Rennes Drive, Exeter EX4 4PU, UK
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Busara Center For Behavioral Economics, 5th Floor, Daykio Plaza, Ngong Lane, Nairobi, Kenya
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Durham University School of Government and International Affairs, Al‑Qasimi Building, Elvet Hill Rd, Durham DH1 3TU, UK
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1 Introduction Deforestation leads to greenhouse emissions (IPCC 2019) and biodiversity loss (Betts et al. 2017; Barlow et al. 2016) and affects the livelihoods of rural communities, especially in developing countries. Policy interventions to solve this problem need to be tailored to local circumstances (Seymour and Harris 2019) and bear in mind that 28% of all forest across Africa, Asia and Latin America are managed by communities (Rights and Resources Initiative 2020). In light of the push towards decentralized forest management (Oldekop et al. 2019; Wright et al. 2016; Somanathan et al. 2009) it is of particular policy relevance to investigate how existing community-based and decentralized forest management can be improved. Behavioural interventions offer one way to make changes to conservation practices. Existing research indicates that behavioural interventions can be low-cost, while having a large impact on behaviours affecting environmental outcomes (see e.g. Carlsson and Johansson-Stenman 2012; Croson and Treich 2014; Brent et al. 2017; Schubert 2017 for re
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