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A note on ivory trade and elephant conservation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 July 2008

Erwin H. Bulte  and
G. Cornelis van Kooten
Erwin H. Bulte
Affiliation:
Department of Development Economics, Wageningen Agricultural University, PO Box 8130, 6700 EW, Wageningen, The Netherlands E-mail: erwin.bulte@alg.oe.wau.nl
G. Cornelis van Kooten
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural Economics and Faculty of Forestry, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
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Abstract

To protect the elephant, trade in ivory has been banned since 1990. In this paper, we demonstrate that this ban's effect on elephant populations is ambiguous. Depending on the discount rate, among other things, the trade ban can either increase or decrease optimal population size. If the decision-maker's discount rate exceeds a certain threshold, the optimum stock of elephants is greater with a trade ban. Since the threshold is in the range of possible social discount rates, the success of the trade ban in promoting elephant conservation will vary spatially and temporally, depending on the characteristics and level of development of countries with significant elephant populations.

Type
Theory and Applications
Information
Environment and Development Economics , Volume 1 , Issue 4 , October 1996 , pp. 433 - 443
Copyright
Copyright © 1996, Cambridge University Press

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