@article{Abbott:46994,
      recid = {46994},
      author = {Abbott, Brant and van Kooten, G. Cornelis},
      title = {CAN DOMESTICATION OF WILDLIFE LEAD TO CONSERVATION? THE  ECONOMICS OF TIGER FARMING IN CHINA},
      address = {2009},
      number = {1778-2016-141737},
      series = {REPA Working Paper},
      pages = {37},
      year = {2009},
      abstract = {Tigers are a threatened species that might soon disappear  in the wild. Not only are tigers threatened by  deteriorating and declining habitat, but poachers continue  to kill tigers for traditional medicine, decoration pieces  and so on. Although international trade in tiger products  has been banned since 1987 and domestic trade within China  since 1993, tigers continue to be poached and Chinese  entrepreneurs have established tiger farms in anticipation  of their demise. While China desires to permit sale of  tiger products from captive-bred tigers, this is opposed on  the grounds that it likely encourages illegal killing.  Instead, wildlife conservationists lobby for more spending  on anti-poaching and trade-ban enforcement. In this study,  a mathematical bioeconomic model is used to investigate the  issue. Simulation results indicate that, unless range  states are characterized by institutions (rule of law, low  corruption) similar to those found in the richest  countries, reliance on enforcement alone is insufficient to  guarantee survival of wild tigers. Likewise, even though  conservation payments could protect wild tigers, the  inability to enforce contracts militates against this. Our  model indicates that wild tigers can be protected by  permitting sale of products from tiger farms, although this  likely requires the granting of an exclusive license to  sellers. Finally, it is possible to tradeoff enforcement  effort and sale of products from captive-bred animals, but  such tradeoffs are worsened by deteriorating tiger  habitat.},
      url = {http://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/46994},
      doi = {https://doi.org/10.22004/ag.econ.46994},
}