We use inverse probability weighting to examine the effects of a unique two-pronged common-property forestry program in the Gimbo district of Ethiopia, which includes Joint Forestry Management and improved non-timber forest product marketing efforts. The program was found to have affected household access to agricultural land, and, thus, reduced livestock holdings, due to program strictures. Furthermore, despite those reductions, there is evidence that the program had economically significant effects on other activities.

Cooperation regarding the use of common pool resources can be difficult to achieve. Different management regimes may channel a resource’s benefits differently among users. This can be a problem when regulatory regimes are uniform in nature – in other words, when the same rules apply to everyone regardless of their different circumstances. To examine the role of this heterogeneity among resource users, we surveyed farmers in Tunisia about policies for managing groundwater pumping.

We examine the effect of the introduction of uniform water-charging for aquifer management and provide evidence using a survey-based choice experiment of agricultural water users in rural Tunisia. Theoretically, we show that the implementation of the proposed second-best regulation would result both in efficiency gains and in distributional effects in favour of small landholders. Empirically, we find that resistance to the introduction of an effective water-charging regime is greatest amongst the largest landholders.