Conservation Research and Policy with Non-Trivial Transaction Costs and Incomplete Contracting

Achieving conservation in the agricultural sector is difficult. The primary complicating factor is the large number of public-good environmental services that can potentially be provided by large numbers of individuals working the land under diverse economic and ecological circumstances. The complexity of the problem implies that additional consideration be given to transaction cost economics and the theory of incomplete contracting. The implications of incomplete contracting and transaction costs theory on the development, implementation, and evaluation of conservation policies are considered. Organizational analysis of the agricultural conservation problem yields three propositions and suggests unique research priorities.