RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Conservation versus Equity: Can Payments for Environmental Services Achieve Both?
JF Land Economics
JO Land Econ
FD University of Wisconsin Press
SP 667
OP 688
DO 10.3368/le.93.4.667
VO 93
IS 4
A1 Vorlaufer, Miriam
A1 Ibanez, Marcela
A1 Juanda, Bambang
A1 Wollni, Meike
YR 2017
UL http://le.uwpress.org/content/93/4/667.abstract
AB Based on a framed field experiment, we investigate the trade-off between conservation and equity in the use of payments for environmental services (PES). We compare the effects of two PES schemes that implicitly incorporate different distributive justice principles: a flat-rate payment per biophysical unit conserved and a redistributive payment based on the Rawls maxi-min distributional principle. The main findings indicate that the introduction of a redistributive scheme can function as a multipurpose instrument. Under the assumed condition that participants with lower endowments face higher opportunity costs of conservation, it realigns the income distribution in favor of low-endowed participants without compromising conservation outcomes. (JEL Q15, Q57)