Why does the market for black rhinos create incentives that are different than other markets? How can these incentives be changed?
For other markets the incentive for keeping black rhinos would be to preserve tourism and have outsiders come to their land. Many of the natives still choose to kill the Rhino since it is better financially for them. This market for Black Rhino is breaking down because they are being viscously killed and no one is trying to protect them. A market is based on self interest, and self interest should help the community, but people are not looking at the consequences and are only looking for money. People have tried to change the incentives by cutting off the horn, but the natives still killed the rhino, so they did not have to chase rhinos without horns (the most expensive part of the rhino). The incentive for killing a Rhino is to make money off of it, but if the incentive was changed to creating more tourism for the country then the mass killing of Rhinos could be stopped. If the natives received a portion of the revenue generated from Tourism, and they understood that the only reason people come to their land is to see the Black Rhino then they would stop killing the Rhino because their incentive have changed.
Justin,
ReplyDeleteYou are writing a lot but not clearly and concisely. You did not clearly address the "vicious cycle" related to the rhino market or how communal resources are difficult to allocate efficiently.
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