Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/339377 
Year of Publication: 
2026
Series/Report no.: 
ECONtribute Discussion Paper No. 393
Publisher: 
University of Bonn and University of Cologne, Reinhard Selten Institute (RSI), Bonn and Cologne
Abstract: 
Forest protection contributes to climate change mitigation and biodiversity conservation. Yet negative income shocks can induce local forest users to increase extraction in order to cope with economic hardship. We study how social norms shape collaborative forest management when communities face an exogenous income shock. We implement an incentivized framed field experiment with 162 smallholder farmers in rural Ethiopia using an interactive dynamic resource extraction game. Farmers individually decide how many trees to harvest from a community forest: harvested trees yield private income, whereas unharvested trees generate group benefits. They do so under different experimental treatments-either with or without i) the presence of a negative income shock and ii) a previous activation of social norms-allowing us to causally identify mechanisms shaping forest management. We find that the activation of social norms fosters fully sustainable resource management in the absence of an income shock. Moreover, a different norm emerges when the community encounters an income shock: now, harvesting more than can sustainably regrow is considered socially appropriate and harvesting behavior adjusts accordingly. Yet without norm activation, the negative income shock puts even more pressure on deforestation. Taken together, these findings suggest that policy-makers should work with local communities to develop complementary institutional mechanisms that sustain collective forest management in times of crisis.
Subjects: 
Common-pool resources
forest commons
social norms
income shock
framed field experiment
community forest management
cooperation
JEL: 
Q20
Q23
Q50
Q56
D70
D91
D64
Z13
Document Type: 
Working Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.