The resin in castilla y león (Spain): Resin workers’ preferences in times of economic crisis

Abstract

In Spain, as in other Southern European countries, the resin-tapping has occupied an important role in the economic and social development of many rural areas. In this paper, resin workers’ preferences are analyzed by means of a program of development of resin tapping activities in the Northern plateau of the Iberian Peninsula. For this purpose, a discrete choice experiment is designed to value different characteristics of the program. Among them, the months of contract for complementary work on forestry activities, the method of resin tapping and the work-time commitment are considered. The results show that the implementation of a plan of employment for forestry activities outside the resin tapping period is the most popular choice, while mechanization of resin tapping is not yet seen as a very plausible option by of respondents.