Title
Quotas, Productivity, and Prices: The Case of Anchovy Fishing
Date Issued
01 March 2016
Access level
metadata only access
Resource Type
journal article
Publisher(s)
Blackwell Publishing Inc.
Abstract
I exploit a 2009 reform that introduced individual fishing quotas (catch shares) for Peruvian anchovy-the largest fishery in the world-to assess the causal impact of production quotas on within-firm productivity and market prices. Unique features of the data allow me to create two alternative counterfactuals: (i) anchovy fishing operations in a region of the country that was mandated to implement quotas with a delay, and (ii) variation in quota allocations across ships. I find that quotas do not increase within-asset or within-firm productivity in quantities. Instead, a 200% increase in anchovy prices benefits extraction firms through higher revenues, consistent with two mechanisms enacted by individual fishing quotas: more orderly industry operations reducing excess supply and an increase in bargaining power of extraction firms with respect to fish-processing. Several market characteristics across geographies differentially affect market prices after the quota regime. Supplementary evidence on fewer operational infractions, higher product quality, and a lower banking delinquency observed during the quota regime suggests the existence of efficiency gains rather than purely rent transfers.
Start page
220
End page
257
Volume
25
Issue
1
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Pesquería
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-84955111588
Source
Journal of Economics and Management Strategy
ISSN of the container
10586407
Sources of information: Directorio de Producción Científica Scopus