Social
Traps and Environmental
Policy Robert Costanza Bioscience, July 1987, Vol. 37, No. 6, pp. 407-412 Social traps are first defined as those situations in which local, short-term
rewards induce individual behavior that is inconsistent with global, long-term benefits for both the individual and society. The
causes of social traps are then discussed. These include: time delay (i.e. where rewards are immediate and the costs are delayed); ignorance (i.e. deficiency in knowledge); sliding reinforcer (i.e. rewards vary with time); externality (i.e. diffuse public or
collective costs of private
actions that may be local or global, short-term or long-term in nature that are not taken into account in market transactions); collective (i.e. adverse collective effects of individual actions); hybrid (a combination of the above). As can be plainly seen, the distinctions made above as to the causes of social traps have significant overlap. (Incidentally, the writer of this abstract has taken the liberty of supplying what he thought were deficiencies in the distinctions made in the paper). Following the discussion of the causes of social traps, a discussion of methods of escaping them are discussed. These include education, insurance, superordinate authority (by which is meant legal systems, government, and religion). Finally, the concepts discussed are applied to the formulation of social policy. Applications to hazardous waste management, coastal wetland management, and the arms race (between the US and the then USSR) are afforded as examples.
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