Risk aversion: Experimental evidence from South African fishing communities
Journal Article
2015-05-28
Permanent link to this Item
Authors
Journal Title
Link to Journal
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
American Journal of Agricultural Economics
Publisher
University of Cape Town
Department
Faculty
License
Series
Abstract
Description
We estimate the risk attitudes of a large sample of individuals from various fishing communities along the west coast of South Africa. Female fishers and rights holders are found to be more risk averse than their male counterparts, while rights holders are found to be less risk averse relative to subjects without fishing rights. Risk attitudes are found to be correlated with compliance with fisheries regulations. In particular, a greater degree of risk aversion translates into a reduction in compliance. Furthermore, in the case of gender, female fishers and rights holders are more likely to comply with fisheries regulations.