My research focuses in the design of institutions to promote cooperation over the use of local shared resources in the developing world. I conducted economic experiments and participatory workshops in rural Colombia with direct users of natural resources, to analyze the effect of different institutions on individual behavior. I have also been working with Professors John Stranlund and James Murphy, in the design and conduction of laboratory experiments to test compliance behavior and enforcement strategies for environmental policies.

I am interested in local natural resources management and rural development in Latin America. Please use this link to open my CV.

More about the field experiments in Colombia

Working Papers:

Centralized and Decentralized Management of Local Common Pool Resources in the Developing World: Experimental Evidence from Fishing Communities in Colombia

What Motivates Common Pool Resource Users? Experimental Evidence from the Field

Within and Between Group Variation of Individual Strategies in Common Pool Resources: Evidence from Field Experiments

Contact me at mavelez@resecon.umass.edu

My friend Veronica and I in Palomino, La Guajira, Colombia, July 2004.

Reading Experiment's Instructions In Guarinocito, Caldas Colombia.