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7. The Conditions for Successful Collective Action

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  • Gary D. Libecap

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to summarize some of the bargaining issues involved in collective action to address local common-pool problems and to illustrate them in three empirical cases. The importance of timing or the sequence of coalition building and the heterogeneity of the participant's preferences, information and stakes in the problem are emphasized. Two of the empirical cases involve traditional CPR problems and efforts to resolve them in fisheries and oil fields. The third involves collective action by private firms to obtain government assistance to control orange shipments so as to fix prices. Although the cases are quite different, with one involving a non-renewable resource, another a renewable resource and a third addressing cooperation for provision of an industry public good, the bargaining problems encountered among heterogeneous parties are very similar. This condition allows for generalizations to be drawn about the conditions for successful collective action.

Suggested Citation

  • Gary D. Libecap, 1994. "7. The Conditions for Successful Collective Action," Journal of Theoretical Politics, , vol. 6(4), pages 563-592, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:jothpo:v:6:y:1994:i:4:p:563-592
    DOI: 10.1177/0951692894006004007
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Libecap, Gary D & Wiggins, Steven N, 1984. "Contractual Responses to the Common Pool: Prorationing of Crude Oil Production," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 74(1), pages 87-98, March.
    2. Wiggins, Steven N & Libecap, Gary D, 1985. "Oil Field Unitization: Contractual Failure in the Presence of Imperfect Information," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 75(3), pages 368-385, June.
    3. Libecap, Gary D., 1978. "Economic Variables and the Development of the Law: The Case of Western Mineral Rights," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 38(2), pages 338-362, June.
    4. Elizabeth Hoffman & Gary D. Libecap, 1994. "Political Bargaining and Cartelization in the New Deal: Orange Marketing Orders," NBER Chapters, in: The Regulated Economy: A Historical Approach to Political Economy, pages 189-222, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Johnson, Ronald N & Libecap, Gary D, 1982. "Contracting Problems and Regulation: The Case of the Fishery," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 72(5), pages 1005-1022, December.
    6. Libecap, Gary D & Wiggins, Steven N, 1985. "The Influence of Private Contractual Failure on Regulation: The Case of Oil Field Unitization," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 93(4), pages 690-714, August.
    7. H. Scott Gordon, 1954. "The Economic Theory of a Common-Property Resource: The Fishery," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Chennat Gopalakrishnan (ed.), Classic Papers in Natural Resource Economics, chapter 9, pages 178-203, Palgrave Macmillan.
    8. H. Scott Gordon, 1954. "The Economic Theory of a Common-Property Resource: The Fishery," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 62, pages 124-124.
    9. Cheung, Steven N S, 1970. "The Structure of a Contract and the Theory of a Non-exclusive Resource," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 13(1), pages 49-70, April.
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    Cited by:

    1. Constantine Iliopoulos & Irini Theodorakopoulou, 2014. "Mandatory Cooperative and the Free Rider Problem: the Case of Santo Wines in Santorini, Greece," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 85(4), pages 663-681, December.

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