Abstract
Several recent empirical studies have indicated that the Endangered Specifies Act (ESA) discourages species conservation on private land. This is because the law encourages landowners to shoot, shovel and shut up before federal authorities discover the species are present or may move onto the land. Most worrisome, the studies suggest that the net effect of the ESA on private land could be negative. Habitat loss and fragmentation represent the greatest threat to endangered species because private land is indispensable to environmental conservation.
Keywords
ESA, endangered species, perverse incentives, outcome, environmentalism, private land use, habitat destruction, federal regulation, fines, incentives, policy
Publication Date
2008
Document Type
Article
Place of Original Publication
Regulation
Publication Information
30 (4) Regulation 4 (2008)
Repository Citation
Adler, Jonathan H., "Anti-Conservation Incentives" (2008). Faculty Publications. 180.
https://scholarlycommons.law.case.edu/faculty_publications/180
