Factors that affect the management of common pool resources: the case of community forest management in Michoac n, Mexico

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the factors that lead to the adoption of legal harvesting of the forest by the communities in the state of Michoac n in Mexico. We construct a theoretical model, where the adoption decision is based on the expected benefits and costs of adoption versus the net benefit of expanding the agricultural frontier or of not controlling access to the forest and allow for it to harvested illegally. Using a panel data set of 1785 communities from 1993 to 2013, we estimate a probit model, where we control for the unobserved time-invariant heterogeneity by using Mundlak s device. We find that the relative distribution of land use between forest and agriculture as well as the elevation and ruggedness of the terrain, have a significant effect, together with a positive effect of the price of pinewood. Furthermore, we find evidence of spatial spillovers for the adoption decision, as a community whose neighbors have previously adopted a forest management plan, is also more likely to adopt. Acknowledgement