Empirical Evidence on the Role of Distribution in Determining Level of Policy Support

Abstract

Individual transferrable quotas (ITQs) have encountered considerable political opposition despite documented improvements in harvesting efficiency and fishery health. This paper analyzes opposition for two different groups- vessel owners and community members. I provide empirical evidence that opposition is higher for political participants that do not own a vessel than vessel owners. Amongst vessel owners, opposition is higher among fishers with the smallest expected gains under ITQ management. I construct novel dataset linking a commenter stated opinion on ITQs, given at a public forum, to occupation information, catch history and expected quota allocation. Results show that fishermen who receive less quota relative to their counterfactual non-ITQ catch are more likely to oppose. For instance, a fisherman who missed one of the grandfathering years is around 20% more likely to oppose ITQs.