TY  - JOUR
AU  - Kremer,Michael
AU  - Morcom,Charles
TI  - Elephants
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 5674
PY  - 1996
Y2  - July 1996
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w5674
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w5674.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Michael Kremer
Harvard University
Department of Economics
Littauer Center M20
Cambridge, MA 02138
Tel: 617/495-9145
Fax: 617/495-7730
E-Mail: mkremer@fas.harvard.edu

Charles R. Morcom
E-Mail: charles_morcom@yahoo.com
AB  - Existing models of open-access resources are applicable to non-storable resources, such as fish.  Many open-access resources, however, are used to produce storable goods.  Elephants, rhinos, and tigers are three prominent examples.  Anticipated future scarcity of these resources will increase current prices, and current poaching.  This implies that, for given initial conditions, there may be rational expectations equilibria leading both to extinction and to survival. Governments may be able to eliminate extinction equilibria by promising to implement tough anti-poaching measures if the population falls below a threshold. Alternatively, they, or private agents, may be able to eliminate extinction equilibria by accumulating a sufficient stockpile of the storable good.
ER  -