Institutional economics analysis of contractual arrangements : managing wildlife and landscape on Dutch farms

This thesis focused on land use in which agriculture is combined with wildlife and landscape management. The objective of the study was to analyse the design of contractual arrangements for wildlife and landscape management by farmers. An important method used in this thesis was a literary approach combined with statistical tools using data from mail surveys. The literary approach is based on theory and makes use of close reasoning. Other methods used were formal models concerning the decision to contract and the consequences of contracting at the farm level. This thesis has concentrated on the supply side, especially on the institutional organisation. The research focussed on institutional aspects of wildlife and landscape management and contributed to the study of wildlife and landscape because it helps to establish a link between supply and demand. This study has shown that contractual arrangements and environmental co-operatives are suitable arrangements for the provision of wildlife and landscape, and that they deserve attention from the viewpoint of empirical science as well as of policy makers