Elsevier

Journal of Rural Studies

Volume 86, August 2021, Pages 645-650
Journal of Rural Studies

Identifying Wright's “cowboys” among Swiss farmers

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2021.08.004Get rights and content
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Highlights

  • In their desire of independence and self-organized justice, some Swiss farmers bear similarity to the concept of “cowboys”.

  • Swiss “cowboys” are older, less educated and have a lower income than the average Swiss farmer.

  • An in-depth analysis of comments in a questionnaire shows their aversion against additional incentivizing programs.

Abstract

Economists would assume that farmers with a net benefit will adopt programs incentivizing the delivery of public goods. Farmers who reject participation in such programs for principled reasons challenge this wisdom. This paper borrows from Will Wright's description of the North American cowboy to illustrate the motives and beliefs of this group. A survey in Switzerland about possible incentivizing programs in the realm of animal health is used to identify and characterize Swiss ‘cowboys.’ 22 % of the sample rejects any participation in incentivizing schemes. Their income and education levels are relatively low, and their ages tend to be high. They emphasize individualism and autonomy, rejecting interventions of the state in their ways of farming. The more ‘cowboys’ manage farms, the less successful incentivizing programs become.

Keywords

Individualism
Agricultural policy
Animal health
Objective hermeneutics
Cowboys

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