4 ms·

Wouldn't fighting poaching just increase the overall value of ivory? Drones, guns and enforcement will just cause x10 in price? Seems like instead of following

Wouldn't fighting poaching just increase the overall value of ivory? Drones, guns and enforcement will just cause x10 in price? Seems like instead of following the "war on drugs" model we should stuff the market full of practically identical synthetic ivory? Or focus on mass elephant reproduction. One of the comments suggests money to fight poaching - I fear again, wrong approach.

jacquesm 10y ago
> Wouldn't fighting poaching just increase the overall value of ivory? That implies that less ivory makes it to the market which means that more elephants make it through life without getting killed for their tusks. Ivory isn't as easily produced as most drugs so the price of ivory is dictated by scarcity even absent any other controls. You could make as much of most drugs as bulk chemistry or farming allows. So the value of ivory going up as a result of being tougher on poachers would be proof that it is working.
- Chronic9q 10y ago
  > So the value of ivory going up as a result of being tougher on poachers would be proof that it is working. Have you taken Economics 101? You do remember what happens when the selling price of a good gets too high? Lots of profit to be made will encourage poachers to hunt. They will take even larger risks (e.g. Being shot by drone) to obtain ivory since the profits are too high.
  - jacquesm 10y ago
    > Have you taken Economics 101? Yes, have you? If the price of Ivory rises then yes, more people will be driven to poaching but unless the price drops to the previous level due to the subsequent increase in supply still more elephants will make it. Only if the price of Ivory drops relative to the baseline could you conclude that a program to target poachers has failed. If what you write is true then we should simply not do anything about poaching at all... but ideally the price of Ivory would rise to incredible heights because none of it makes it to the market because all poachers are caught.

jacquesm 10y ago

> Wouldn't fighting poaching just increase the overall value of ivory? That implies that less ivory makes it to the market which means that more elephants make it through life without getting killed for their tusks. Ivory isn't as easily produced as most drugs so the price of ivory is dictated by scarcity even absent any other controls. You could make as much of most drugs as bulk chemistry or farming allows. So the value of ivory going up as a result of being tougher on poachers would be proof that it is working.

Chronic9q 10y ago
> So the value of ivory going up as a result of being tougher on poachers would be proof that it is working. Have you taken Economics 101? You do remember what happens when the selling price of a good gets too high? Lots of profit to be made will encourage poachers to hunt. They will take even larger risks (e.g. Being shot by drone) to obtain ivory since the profits are too high.
- jacquesm 10y ago
  > Have you taken Economics 101? Yes, have you? If the price of Ivory rises then yes, more people will be driven to poaching but unless the price drops to the previous level due to the subsequent increase in supply still more elephants will make it. Only if the price of Ivory drops relative to the baseline could you conclude that a program to target poachers has failed. If what you write is true then we should simply not do anything about poaching at all... but ideally the price of Ivory would rise to incredible heights because none of it makes it to the market because all poachers are caught.