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The Voluntary Provision of Snowmobile Trails on Private Land in Sweden

Ersta & Sköndal University College, Sweden, sten.anttila{at}telia.com

Charlotta Stern

Swedish Institute for Social Research at Stockholm University, Sweden, lotta.stern{at}sofi.su.se

A snowmobile trail canalizes snow-covered land to create a path of snowmobile travel. This form of communication infrastructure yields two kinds of benefits. First, it reduces negative externalities befalling landowners and other non-drivers. Second, it improves driving conditions for both local inhabitants and leisure tourists enjoying outdoor recreation. Our study suggests that problems befalling landowners decline as trails are established and the work provided by snowmobile associations intensifies. We discuss various social mechanisms that facilitate self-organization, and suggest that the extensive voluntary provision of snowmobile trails in Sweden is an example of how local common-pool resource dilemmas are resolved through self-organization, outside formal markets and beyond governmental politics.

Key Words: common-pool resource • self-organization • social incentives • voluntary association

Rationality and Society, Vol. 17, No. 4, 453-474 (2005)
DOI: 10.1177/1043463105058318


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