Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
resource users put on management decisions and the degree of members'
compliance with these obligations. The extent of group obligation depends
positively upon (1) the cost of producing the joint goods and (2) the degree
of dependency among members. The degree of members' compliance with
these obligations depends positively upon the monitoring and sanction-
ing capabilities of the group. Since costs of monitoring and sanctioning
can be high, the degree of cooperative success will depend on the mecha-
nisms the group adopts to economize on such costs (Hechter, 1990 noted
by Molinas, 1998). Encouraging user participation in decision-making
processes, which possibly creates the legitimacy required for compliance,
can minimize monitoring costs. User participation in common property
regimes is the cornerstone to the sustainable management of the commons
in most developing countries. Because resource dependency is very high,
and the number of users is comparatively large, spatial extension and poor
infrastructure make monitoring costly. Conservation measures are also
care-intensive and resources are prone to irreversible damage due to a high
degree of dependency (Birner and Wittmer, 2000).
I now turn to the graphical representation of the nature and extent
of transaction costs as described in Birner and Wittmer (2000), who
presented a very subtle analysis of transaction costs of dif erent govern-
ance structures. Transaction costs of public sector governance (
TC
p
) and
co- management (
TC
cc
) are presented in Figure 5.1a and b respectively.
Transaction costs of decisions and implementation change accordingly
(a) Public sector governance
(b) Co-management (state/community)
Transaction costs
Transaction costs
TC
p
+
TC
I
p
=
TC
p
TC
cc
+
TC
cc
=
TC
cc
TC
cc
TC
I
p
TC
p
TC
cc
Care-intensity
Threat to resource
Measurement costs
Care-intensity
Threat to resource
Measurement costs
Source:
Birner and Wittmer (2000).
Figure 5.1
Decision and implementation costs of public sector governance
and co-management
