Template-Type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0 Author-Name: Goytom Abraha Kahsay Author-Name-First: Goytom Abraha Author-Name-Last: Kahsay Author-Email: goytom@ifro.ku.dk Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Food and Resource Economics, University of Copenhagen Author-Name: Workineh Asmare Kassie Author-Name-First: Workineh Asmare Author-Name-Last: Kassie Author-Email: workineh.asmare@uog.edu.et Author-Workplace-Name: School of Economics, University of Gondar Author-Name: Abebe Damte Beyene Author-Name-First: Abebe Damte Author-Name-Last: Beyene Author-Email: abebed2002@yahoo.co.uk Author-Workplace-Name: Environment and Climate Research Center (ECRC), Ethiopian Development Research Institute (EDRI) Author-Name: Lars Gårn Hansen Author-Name-First: Lars Gårn Author-Name-Last: Hansen Author-Email: lgh@ifro.ku.dk Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Food and Resource Economics, University of Copenhagen Title: Do public works programs crowd-out pro-environmental behavior? Empirical evidence from food-for-work programs in Ethiopia Abstract: The Ethiopian food for work program typically induces forest conservation work. While economic outcomes have been studied before, little is known about the program’s environmental impact. We run a choice experiment among Ethiopian farmers eliciting preferences in a hypothetical afforestation program that mimics the Ethiopian food-for-work program. We find that introducing food incentives decreases willingness to participate in the program and participation rate increases with an increase in the proportion of individuals selected for food incentive. We also find that the crowding-out effect is stronger when food incentive recipients are selected based on income compared to lottery-based selection. Our data points to pro-social signaling as the most likely channel for the crowding-out effect. These results suggest that (1) food-for-work programs could have unintended negative environmental effects and (2) directions for design reform that could mitigate this. Length: 26 pages Creation-Date: 2017-12 File-URL: http://okonomi.foi.dk/workingpapers/WPpdf/WP2017/IFRO_WP_2017_13.pdf File-Format: Application/pdf Number: 2017/13 Classification-JEL: D03, D64, D82, Q57 Keywords: Crowding-out; Food-for-work program, Pro-environmental behavior; Selection; Pro-social signaling Handle: RePEc:foi:wpaper:2017_13