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Abstract:
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"Economic models of common property resources tend to focus on the negative externalities that exist between resource users, ignoring any cost-reducing synergies that might also exist. This dissertation examines the implications of one such synergy that arises in some fisheries. Depending on the targeted species, fishers may be able to reduce search costs by sharing information on the location of schools or aggregations of fish with other fishers. This is modeled within the framework of a two season model, with fishers continuously assessing whether to continue fishing and whether to share fish information with others. If the answer to both of these questions is affirmative, fishers must also decide with whom to share. In deciding whether to share fish information, fishers weigh the expected benefits of sharing--lower search costs--against the expected costs, which are influenced by inter- and intraseasonal stock effects, a school depletion effect, and a crowding effect."
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