Co-production and economics: insights from the constructive use of experimental games in adaptive resource management

ABSTRACT I envision new directions in the methodology of experimental games in the field of developmental, environmental and resource economics. Although there have been extensive discussions on experimental practices in recent years, following Guala's [(2005). The methodology of experimental economics. Cambridge University Press] pioneering work, the methodology has narrowly focused on issues related to the internal and external validity of experimental results, in particular the extrapolation of results for policy. I introduce co-production as a popular perspective in the recent methodological discussion on sustainability science, and then I illustrate how it works in the familiar context of game-theoretic studies of common pool resource management. I then distinguish various ways in which methodologists could engage in the normative appraisal of co-production using economics, ranging from conservative to radical approaches.