The impact of information on landowners’ participation in voluntary conservation programs – Theoretical considerations and empirical evidence from an agri-environment program in Saxony, Germany

The voluntary nature of programs that pay landowners for conservation measures raises the question of what factors favor participation in such programs. This article focuses on the controversial issue of the impact of information on the participation decision. We develop a straightforward model to analyze how information affects this decision, and empirically estimate the impact of information, as well as other factors, on participation in a conservation program in Saxony, Germany. We find in our theoretical analysis that information measures may affect program participation either in a positive or negative way, whereas our estimation results indicate that the influence of the diverse information measures that have been relevant in our empirical analysis is weak. We argue, however, that information measures may nonetheless be warranted, as they allow for better informed participation decisions, thus contributing to a more optimal selection of program participants.

► We develop a straightforward model to analyze how information affects the landowners’ decision.
► We empirically estimate the impact of information and other factors on farmers’ participation in a conservation program in Saxony, Germany.
► Our findings suggest that information measures only have a minor impact on the number of landowners who participate in a program, if at all.
► However, information measures allow landowners to make better informed participation decisions, thus contributing to a more optimal selection of landowners.