2025/10/28 by Darin Christensen, Alexandra Hartman, Cyrus Samii +1 · 1 voice
Decision Sciences · Social Sciences · #Conflict Management and Negotiation #Experimental Behavioral Economics Studies #Game Theory and Applications
paper · doi:10.1093/jeea/jvaf047
openalex publication_date 2025/10/28 · openalex created_date 2025/10/29 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/22
Abstract We experimentally evaluate whether an interest-based negotiation training for community leaders in Liberia improves their ability to strike beneficial deals related to their land and forests. We use environmental assessments, lab-in-the-field, and surveys and find that trainees are 27% more likely to reach a beneficial agreement, and it raises the total surplus earned by 2.74 USD, which is a 42% increase. Our exploration of mechanisms indicates that the training increases trainees’ capacity to identify valuable deals, but does not improve their appraisal of their outside option. We find a reduction (0.27 standard deviations) in the exploitation of communal forestland in treated communities.