Do Stronger Collective Property Rights Increase Household Income? Evidence from a Field Study in Fiji

Abstract

A diverse body of recent research identifies collective ownership as a potentially better institution for common pool resource governance under some conditions than either private or state ownership. Extensive previous work analyzes the structure and functioning of successful collective ownership institutions, but limited research examines the impact of stronger collective ownership rights on household income. Exploiting a natural experiment – in which some villages were exogenously included in a provincial level initiative to strengthen collective ownership rights over fisheries, while villages in a neighboring province were excluded – this article uses a unique dataset to examine the impact of collective fisheries ownership on household income and food consumption. Strengthening collective ownership rights improves household consumption of marine resources, but does not increase monetary income. Income improvements that at first appear due to stronger collective ownership institutions are instead a byproduct NGO engagement.