The prevention of invasive species is modeled as a “weaker link” public good. Under the weaker link aggregation technology, individual contributions beyond the lowest level will still provide benefits, but progressively these benefits decline as contributions exceed the minimum. A two-region model is constructed, assuming incomplete information concerning costs of provision. We compare the results of the model to several benchmarks in order to gain insights regarding what we can expect countries to contribute to this transnational public good and how these contributions differ from the Pareto optimal level, given the technology and information structure of this special type of public good.
Published: Burnett, K. M., 2006. Introductions of invasive species: Failure of the weaker link. Agricultural and Resource Economics Review, 35 (1), 21-28.
