Forest dependency, resource scarcity and cooperative behaviour in commons dilemma

Economic experiments have established that the behaviour of individuals in commons dilemma deviates from myopic prediction. Individuals act less selfishly than predicted by myopic equilibrium. However, the influence of the commons scarcity on the behaviour of the individuals in commons dilemma has not been adequately addressed in the literature. Further, experimental evidence regarding the role of resource scarcity on the effectiveness of institutions geared towards solving the commons dilemma is scant. Hence, this book provides experimental evidence on the effect on commons scarcity on the cooperative behaviour of commons users. The book also explores the effect of institutions (endogenous and exogenous) and leadership on the cooperative behaviour of commons users. The experiments were conducted using 130 community members randomly selected from Chillimo-Gaji community forest users in Oromia regional state, Ethiopia. The book also gives empirical evidence on the determinants of rural households’ dependence on forest commons based on survey data.