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Economic incentives for biodiversity conservation: what is the evidence for motivation crowding?
[working paper]
Corporate Editor
Helmholtz-Zentrum für Umweltforschung - UFZ
Abstract As economic incentives for biodiversity and ecosystem service protection (e.g., payments for ecosystem services) have become widespread in environmental science and policy, a major concern among conservationists and environmental scientists is that economic incentives may undermine people’s intrinsi... view more
As economic incentives for biodiversity and ecosystem service protection (e.g., payments for ecosystem services) have become widespread in environmental science and policy, a major concern among conservationists and environmental scientists is that economic incentives may undermine people’s intrinsic motivations to conserve biodiversity. In this paper we review the theoretical insights and empirical findings on motivation crowding effects with economic instruments for biodiversity protection. First, we synthesize the psychological mechanisms behind motivation crowding effects relevant for environmental behavior as identified in the specialized literature. We then conduct a systematic review of the empirical evidence. Our results show that, although several empirical studies suggest the existence of crowding-out and crowding-in effects, evidence remains inconclusive due to i) methodological limitations for empirical studies to demonstrate crowding effects, ii) lack of adequate baseline information about pre-existing intrinsic motivations, iii) weak comparability of results across case studies resulting from inconsistent terminology and methods, and iv) the complexity stemming from cultural and contextual heterogeneity. We conclude that, as economic instruments for conservation are increasingly implemented, it becomes paramount to develop robust methodologies for assessing pre-existing intrinsic motivations and changes in people’s motivational structures. To address possible detrimental long term effects for conservation outcomes we call for caution in situations where high uncertainties remain.... view less
Keywords
biodiversity; environmental protection; environmental policy; incentive system; intrinsic motivation; crowding out; environmental behavior
Classification
Ecology, Environment
General Psychology
Free Keywords
policy instruments; economic incentives; motivation crowding; crowding-in
Document language
English
Publication Year
2013
City
Leipzig
Page/Pages
26 p.
Series
UFZ Discussion Papers, 19/2013
ISSN
1436-140X
Status
Published Version; reviewed
Licence
Creative Commons - Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike