the subsequent government decide whether to exploit or conserve. This paper develops a theory of this situation and shows … dramatic returns on lobby contributions contingent on exploitation -- or on compensations contingent on conservation -- when …

of land and climate attributes. We conclude that European conservation efforts lack ambition because policymakers select …

Motivated by tropical deforestation, we analyze (i) a novel theory of resource extraction, (ii) the optimal … conservation contract, (iii) when the donor prefers contracting with central rather than local governments, and (iv) how the donor …’s presence may induce institutional change. Deforestation can be legal or illegal in the model: each district decides how much to …

the conservation value is low, the consumption value high, and the buyer's protection cost large. The theory explains why …A conservation good (such as a tropical forest) is owned by a seller who is tempted to consume (or cut), but a buyer … benefits more from conservation. The seller does conserve if the buyer is expected to buy, but the buyer is unwilling to pay as …

When investment is irreversible, theory suggests that firms will be "reluctant to invest." This reluctance creates a … we label the irreversibility premium. Estimates are based on panel data for the period 1980-2001. The large dataset …-wide shocks on the irreversibility premium. Our estimates provide a readily interpretable measure of the importance of …

human capital investment decision. Real option theory offers a new perspective of the human capital investment decision … under uncertainty and irreversibility. Unlike other approaches we include accumulative schooling costs, and provide a full …