Scenario: the Following Excerpt Is from Michael A

question 196

Multiple Choice

Scenario: The following excerpt is from Michael A. McPherson and Michael L. Nieswiadomy, "African Elephants: The Effects of Property Rights and Political Stability," Contemporary Economic Policy 18, no. 1 (2007) .
African elephant populations have declined by more than 50% over the past 20 years. International outrage over the slaughter led to a worldwide ban on ivory sales beginning in 1989, despite the objections of many economists and scientists, and of several southern African countries that have established systems of property rights over elephants. Far from declining, elephant populations in many of these countries have increased to levels at or above the carrying capacity of the ecosystem. This article estimates the determinants of changes in elephant populations in 35 African countries over several time periods. The authors find that, controlling for other factors, countries with property rights systems or community wildlife programs have more rapid elephant population growth rates than do those countries that do not. Political instability and the absence of representative governments significantly lower elephant growth rates.
-Refer to the scenario above.Which of the following is consistent with a solution to the elephant population decline described in the quote?

• A) Assigning the property rights creates an incentive for owners to manage the resource so it is not depleted.
• B) Banning the trade of a declining resource is an effective way of managing it.
• C) Government ownership of a declining resource protects it from depletion.
• D) There is no effective solution to management of common pool resources.

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Definitions:

Superstitious Behaviour

Actions based on irrational beliefs that certain behaviors or rituals can influence unrelated outcomes or events.

Positive Reinforcement

A process in which presenting a positive stimulus after a desired behavior increases the likelihood of that behavior occurring again.

Observational Learning

The process of acquiring new behaviors or knowledge by watching and imitating the actions of others, also known as social learning or modeling.

Model

In science and engineering, a model is an abstract representation meant to study, simulate, or explain the behavior of real systems or phenomena.