Fishers are risk-averse according to most empirical studies, while expected-utility theory predicts risk neutrality even for sizable stakes. We test this prediction using data from a stated-choice experiment with Swedish commercial fishers. Our results show that only 48% of the fishers can be...

In the 1970s, herring stocks in the Northeast Atlantic were nearly fished to extinction. This collapse is usually attributed to technological advances. We investigate the empirical impact of technological shocks on herring stocks. We show evidence that the power block was the principal factor in...

Technological progress can improve economic development, but its role in the harvest of common resources has received little attention. We study the relationship between skill and the use of electronic and mechanical innovations in the productivity of Malaysian artisanal fishers. Surprisingly,...

Individual transferable quotas (ITQs) induce changes along both the extensive margin—via consolidation of quota among fewer vessels—and the intensive margin, as harvesters adjust their behavior to ITQ incentives. We use ITQ introduction in the Bering Sea crab fishery to decompose the sources...

Economic theory predicts that the least-efficient vessels are more likely to exit a fishery following the transition to an individual transferable quota (ITQ) management regime. Tools are needed to help analysts predict the likely degree and distribution of consolidation prior to implementing...

As an alternative to the more traditional fixed-price schemes, governments can run auctions to purchase environmental services from private agents. Governments have so far chosen the discriminatory price (DP) over the uniform price (UP) format. Theoretical and experimental studies have concluded...

In this paper we use a general model of imperfect competition to predict welfare changes within an open-access fishery after it transitions to individual transferable quota (ITQ) management. Although related research has explored the effects of market power in the harvesting sector on ITQ...