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Resource Use, Institutions, and Sustainability: A Tale of Two Pacific Island Cultures

2000; University of Wisconsin Press; Volume: 76; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.2307/3147033

1543-8325

Jon D. Erickson, John M. Gowdy,

Pacific and Southeast Asian Studies

This paper examines two Pacific Island cultures, Easter Island and Tikopia, and the relationship between natural resource systems, human-made capital, population growth, and institutional change. Easter Island followed a preindustrial society pattern of overshoot-and collapse. However, Tikopia evolved cultural practices leading to zero-population growth and sustainable resource use. Using a modified Lotka- Volterra, predator-prey model, we find (1) investment in human-made capital does not necessarily eliminate the boom- and bust-cycles of economic activity and population observed in many past societies; and (2) institutional adaptation and resource conservation can be critical in achieving population stability.