ISBN 9783843907507

978-3-8439-0750-7, Reihe Wirtschaftswissenschaften

Sebastian Prediger
Economic Behaviour and Context – Five Experimental Studies on the Impact of Ecological and Institutional Context Factors in Southern African Commons

275 Seiten, Dissertation Philipps-Universität Marburg (2012), Softcover, A5

Zusammenfassung / Abstract

This dissertation contributes to the emerging literature on the influence of context variables on individual and group behaviour of commons users, and aims to reduce the gap between theory and empiricism. Empirical research was carried out in the communal lands of the Karas region in southern Namibia and in the Namaqualand in South Africa within the third phase of the BIOTA (Biodiversity Monitoring Transect Analysis in Africa) Southern Africa project. For the vast majority of the people living in the communal lands, livestock husbandry is the main source of subsistence. Hence, the sustainable management of natural resources, in particular of pastures, is an important precondition to secure local livelihoods and reduce vulnerability at the study sites. Grazing land and water are the most important resources there, and both are managed under common property regimes.

The main aim of this dissertation is to empirically examine how ecological and institutional context factors affect collective action for the management of common-pool resources. Given the high relevance of natural resources for people’’s livelihoods and the long-term experience with CPR management under common property regimes there, the study site provides an interesting setting to tackle this aim.