Does competitive scarcity affect the speed of resource extraction? A common-pool resource lab-in-the-field experiment on land use in northern Namibia

Abstract

• Forestry-framed common-pool resource lab-in-the-field experiment with real resource users in Namibia. • Participants make decisions in the experiment about conversion of forest land into agricultural fields. • Scarce (competitive) vs. abundant (non-competitive) appropriation conditions are compared. • It turns out that resource scarcity slows down extraction rates. • Real-world experiences are found to affect experimental decisions. The aim of this study is to analyze how scarcity of resources affects the rate at which users decide to extract or appropriate resources. We investigate this by conducting an economic lab-in-the-field experiment in northern Namibia. Small-scale farmers (n = 252) participate in a common-pool resource game framed as conversion of a fictional forest into agriculturally used land, which resembles decisions they regularly make in real life. We compare environments where the forest resource is abundant against environments where the forest resource is scarce and extraction therefore competitive. It turns out that extraction rates are lower in scarce than in abundant environments. Results also reveal that having experienced resource scarcity in the real world affects experimental decisions.