This website uses cookies.

By clicking the "Accept" button or continuing to browse our site, you agree to first-party and session-only cookies being stored on your device to enhance site navigation and analyze site performance and traffic. For more information on our use of cookies, please see our Privacy Policy.

The AEA website will be offline for scheduled maintenance after 6:00pm (EDT) this evening.
  1. Home
  2. Journals
  3. American Economic Review
  4. May 2011
  5. Using Artefactual Field Experiments to Learn about the Incentives for Sustainable Forest Use in Developing Economies

Using Artefactual Field Experiments to Learn about the Incentives for Sustainable Forest Use in Developing Economies

Download Full Text PDF

Abstract

We implement a public goods game and a social intervention modeled after a public goods game in rural Sierra Leone near the Gola Forest Reserve. We also collect demographic, economic and forest conservation data on households in the area. We use this data to assess the mapping of social preferences from the artefactual field experiment (AFE) into real world behavior. We find evidence of heterogeneity in shifting factors between the AFE, the field experiment, and conservation outcomes. We also find evidence that social controls like war violence and witchcraft may explain some of this correlation.

Citation

Voors, Maarten, Erwin Bulte, Andreas Kontoleon, John A. List, and Ty Turley. 2011. "Using Artefactual Field Experiments to Learn about the Incentives for Sustainable Forest Use in Developing Economies." American Economic Review, 101 (3): 329-33. DOI: 10.1257/aer.101.3.329

JEL Classification

  • C93 Field Experiments
  • O13 Economic Development: Agriculture; Natural Resources; Energy; Environment; Other Primary Products
  • Q23 Renewable Resources and Conservation: Forestry