Aneeque Javaid

• This dissertation sheds lights on two important questions related to temporal dilemma with respect to natural resource (fisheries) extraction: (i) How does the presence of temporal dilemma impact resource users´ extraction behavior? (ii) What is the relationship between individual time preferences and resource extraction behavior? For both cases I consider two different aspects of extraction behavior: (i) effort level decision, and (ii) extraction method choice. Chapter 2 looks at the impact of temporal dilemma on the distinct but inter-related problems of over-extraction and destructive extraction in natural resource use settings. I employ standard CPR experiments without time delay (control groups) and CPR experiments with time delay (time treatment groups) in conservation earnings to investigate whether or not participants were likely to extract greater amount of resource in the presence of temporal dilemma. Our results suggest that delaying the benefits of conservation – an experimental feature which brings the experiment closer to reality, as conservation benefits always occur with a time delay – mainly impacts participants’ extraction decision by making them more likely to try out destructive extraction methods. I find that the number of people, who do not opt for destructive extraction method even once during gear choice rounds, was significantly less in the time treatment groups as compared to control groups. On the other hand, I do not find any evidence of difference in effort level between time treatment groups and control groups when participants could not chose their extraction method. Chapter 3 combines experimental methods and questionnaire data to understand the relationship between individual time preferences and natural resource (fisheries) extraction. I elicit individual time preference with incentivized choice experiments and link the resulting time preference measures to extraction data from questionnaires and CPR experiment. Our findings su