Policies with varying costs and benefits: A land conservation classroom game

ABSTRACT

Some policies try to maximize net benefits by targeting different individuals to participate. This is difficult when costs and benefits of participation vary independently, such as in land conservation. The authors share a classroom game that explores cases in which minimizing costs may not maximize benefits and vice versa. The game is a contextually rich pedagogical tool, putting students in the role of landowners who must decide whether to conserve land in different policy environments: flat conservation payments, agglomeration bonuses, and a conservation auction. Students learn about specific issues in land conservation, ecosystem services, preferences for nonmoney outcomes, and general issues in policymaking. The game is suited to classes in environmental, resource, agricultural, and policy economics, and more general classes in microeconomics and public policy.

KEYWORDS:

• Classroom game
• conservation
• economic education
• land use
• spatial agglomeration

JEL CODES:

• A22
• Q24
• Q57

Notes

1. If the classroom shape is uncongenial to the game (if it is not a rectangle or it is unusually long and thin on one dimension), plot locations can be randomly assigned by handing out index cards with the locations (A1, A2, etc.) written on them. This random plot location assignment also can be done in a normal-shaped room if you want to make it more difficult for students (who typically sit near friends) to “collude” to create blocks of conserved land.

2. The production possibilities frontier (PPF) depicted in figure 3 of Polasky et al. (2008) is something to emphasize to the students: although there is a tradeoff between protecting more species and economic returns, public goods problems or other sources of inefficiency cause the economy to sit inside the PPF.

3. The Excel spreadsheet file is available from the corresponding author's Web site, http://econ.williams.edu/profile/saj2/.

4. If Excel is set to not automatically perform calculations, the spreadsheet will not work! You can find this setting: On a PC: 2003: Tools > Options > Calculation > Calculation > Automatic. 2007: Office button > Excel options > Formulas > Workbook Calculation > Automatic. 2010 and 2013: File > Options > Formulas > Workbook Calculation > Automatic. On a Mac: 2008: Excel Preferences > Calculation > Automatically.

5. If there are empty seats in the classroom at the beginning of the game, instead of treating each as a mountain or a rock, it is possible to let neighboring students take over the plot of land. This can demonstrate a situation in which spillovers across plots are internalized when one entity owns neighboring plots. Such plots could even be auctioned off. A new farming value would have to be assigned to these plots (by randomly dealing a card to it).

6. The spreadsheet determines whether a location is populated (i.e., whether the plot of land “exists”) by looking at whether a value is entered into this cell in the AgQuality sheet. Calculations of total ESS and net social welfare draw values only from plots of land that are thus determined to “exist.” In this way, it is very easy to use this spreadsheet for a class that is smaller than the 5 x 12 grid provided: leave blank the AgQuality cells for unoccupied spaces. If the class is larger on one or both dimensions, you must make more changes to the spreadsheet.

7. Clickers could be used to register decisions, which would make rounds go faster and would force students to commit to their strategies before learning of others’ choices. To make this work, one must incorporate the clicker feedback into the Excel spreadsheet.

8. The random choice is done as follows. You will have entered how many eligible corridors exist (the number of shortest corridors) into the spreadsheet. A random-number generator in an adjoining cell will generate a random integer from 1 to the number you entered, and it will regenerate this each time any calculation or entry is performed in the sheet. You can build suspense and call students’ attention to the calculation moment, enter the number of corridors, and announce what random number is generated. Because the random number will continue to regenerate with every entry or calculation in the sheet, copy or type the chosen number in the cell marked “permanent.”

9. If there is a critical tie, go to the bid.tie sheet and sort ascending by bid and then rand(); then, choose the top bids up to the maximum number of bids and inform the students who won the auction. Go back to the main sheet and manually fill in “0” in the “Accepted?” column for the tie-break losers.

10. An editable version of the instructions and recording sheet can be found at http://econ.williams.edu/profile/saj2/.

11. An editable version of the Instructor's Guide can be found at http://econ.williams.edu/profile/saj2/.