Effect of Information Disclosure Policies in Conservation Auctions

Abstract

This paper uses controlled laboratory experiments to investigate the effect of revealing the spatial environmental scoring rule, which incorporates ecological gains obtained from spatial coordination of conservation efforts, on auction performance across different landscape types. We set up a stylized agricultural landscape where the environmental goal was to connect fragmented wildlife habitats. We found that revealing the spatial environmental scoring rule would effectively improve auction performance in the landscapes where environmental benefits and opportunity costs are uncorrelated or negatively correlated. However, the results warn against revealing the spatial environmental scoring rule in landscapes where benefits and costs are positively correlated.