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by Chronic9q 3544 days 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.

1 comments

> 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.