Making the Commons Work: Conservation and Cooperation in Common Property Resources. The Case of Irish Commonage

Abstract

Commonage represents land held under common property which incorporates a system of local cooperative arrangements and rules to conserve and manage the Irish uplands. We analyse the institutional and economic factors which influence the behavior of commonage farmers under a common property regime using a recursive bivariate probit model. Results show that (1) cooperation has a positive and important impact on commonage conservation; (2) agricultural policies by way of livestock premia increase the level of degradation; whilst (3) farm financial support through agri-environment measures positively affects commonage conservation and encourages cooperation between farmers.