Overexploitation of Renewable Resources by Ancient Societies and the Role of Sunk-Cost Effects
نویسنده
چکیده
One of the most persistent mysteries in the history of humankind is the collapse of ancient societies. It is puzzling that societies reaching such high levels of development disappeared so suddenly. It has been argued that overexploitation of environmental resources has played a role in causing the collapse of such societies. In this paper we propose an explanation for the pattern that overexploitation seems more common in ancient societies that built larger structures. This explanation is based on the well-studied sunk-cost effect in human decision making: Decisions are often based on past investments rather than expected future returns.
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marco a. janssen, t imothy a. kohler , and marten scheffer Center for the Study of Institutions, Population, and Environmental Change, Indiana University, 408 N. Indiana Ave., Bloomington, Ind. 47408-3799, U.S.A. ([email protected])/Department of Anthropology, Washington State University, P.O. Box 644910, Pullman, Wash. 99164-4910, U.S.A. ([email protected])/ Department of Aquatic Ecology and Wat...
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