William Easterly in The White Man’s Burden shared the following account by New York University Professor Leonard Wantchekon of how Professor Wantchekon’s village in Benin, Africa, managed the local fishing pond when he was growing up: To open the fishing season, elders performed ritual tests at Amlé, a lake fifteen kilometers from the village. If the fish were large enough, fishing was allowed for two or three days. If they were too small, all fishing was forbidden, and anyone who secretly fished the lake at this time was outcast, excluded from the formal and informal groups that formed the village’s social structure. Those who committed this breach of trust were often shunned by the whole community; no one would speak to the offender, or even acknowledge his existence for a year or more.
What economic problem were the village elders trying to prevent? Do you think their solution was effective?