We estimate a bivariate probit model using data from a survey of Maine and New Hampshire beachgoers to (i) assess the impact of exposure to and contact with beach waters on safety information-seeking behaviors, and (ii) compare information-seeking behaviors for surf conditions and water quality information. We find that individuals who engage in certain high-contact recreation activities (i.e., swimming, fishing, surfing) are more likely to seek out safety information and that some potential drivers of this behavior affect searches differently for surf conditions versus water quality information.

To analyze Canada's Tariff Rate Quota (TRQ) administration, a model of efficient quota administration is put forward. After examining the operation of the Canadian TRQ system for its twenty-one TRQs, conclusions are drawn. In general this system has worked well in Canada. The quotas are almost all filled, and the administration is transparent and not costly for quota-holders to use. Among the international lessons from Canada's experience are that few WTO rules may be needed in this area, aside from steps to ensure the TRQ is fully available to users and can be freely transferred among them.

When the modern era of environmental policy began with creation of the Environmental Protection Agency and passage of the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts, economists and economics were little used. Over time, economics became a major contributor to formation of environmental policy. Executive Order 12291 pushed economics into the policy process but also rendered benefit-cost analysis controversial. I report on economics’ role in the policy process over time and examine contributions by economists to environmental policymaking. Advancing benefit-cost analysis is an obvious contribution. I describe other areas in which economists have contributed and highlight milestones for economics at EPA.

Agri-environmental programs, such as the Environmental Quality Incentives Program, provide payments to livestock and crop producers to generate broadly defined environmental benefits and to help them comply with federal water quality regulations, such as those that require manure nutrients generated on large animal feeding operations to be spread on cropland at no greater than agronomic rates. We couch these policy options in terms of agri-environmental “carrots” and regulatory “sticks,” respectively. The U.S. agricultural sector is likely to respond to these policies in a variety of ways. Simulation analysis suggests that meeting nutrient standards would result in decreased levels of animal production, increased prices for livestock and poultry products, increased levels of crop production, and water quality improvements. However, estimated impacts are not homogeneous across regions. In regions with relatively less cropland per ton of manure produced, the impacts of these policies are more pronounced.

Willingness to pay (WTP) estimation typically involves some strategy for mapping nondichotomous contingent valuation (CV) responses onto a dichotomous yes/no dependent variable. We propose a new approach to selecting which responses qualify as ‘yes.’ We apply the proposed method to polychotomous CV data for preventative land management programs in the Great Basin. We also estimate WTP using other methods of response recoding found in the literature. By contrasting the results under different approaches, we demonstrate how and why WTP point estimates vary across recoding methods and discuss the comparative advantages of our more generalized recoding approach that is based on predicted probabilities of ‘yes’ responses.

High rates of commercial fertilizer and animal manure application on cropland have been identified as an important cause of ground and surface water degradation in many areas of the country. Suggested remedies are often based on the idea that fertilization levels are economically irrational for the individual farmer. The received wisdom is that farmers could simultaneously improve their own economic well being and reduce the degradation of the ground and surface waters by fertilizing only to meet crop nutrient needs. Rather than assuming that farmers act irrationally, this study examines the fertilization problem on a mixed crop-livestock farm from the perspective of a risk-averse farmer coping with two key uncertainties: crop yield response to nitrogen applications and the nitrogen content of manure. The effects on fertilization decisions by such a farmer of various policy prescriptions for reducing surface and ground water pollution are examined. The results underscore the importance of understanding producer behavior for the design of economically sound policy.

This study examined possible economic impacts on Northern Plains grain producers of policies that could be undertaken by the United States to comply with the Kyoto Protocol. The paper begins with a discussion of the potential effects of the Kyoto Protocol on prices of energy and inputs used in agricultural production. The next section describes the data and econometric models that were used to develop a field-scale, stochastic simulation model of the crop production system typical of the Northern Plains. This model is based on econometric production models estimated with a spatially referenced, statistically representative sample of farmers in Montana. The simulation analysis shows that the impacts of higher energy prices would tend to discourage the use of fallow, raise variable costs of production by 3 to 13%, and reduce net returns above variable cost by 6 to 18% in the case of spring wheat grown on fallow. Under the higher cost scenarios assumed in an analysis conducted by the Farm Bureau, production costs for spring wheat on fallow would increase by 15 to 27% and net returns would decline by 15 to 24%.

The use of chemical pesticides frequently causes minor pests to become serious problems by disturbing the natural controls that keep them in check. As a result, it is possible to suffer heavier crop losses after pesticides are introduced than before their introduction. Efficient use of pesticides requires complete biological modeling that takes the appropriate predator-prey relationships into account. A bioeconomic model is introduced involving three key species: a primary target pest, a secondary pest, and a natural enemy of the secondary pest. Optimal decision rules are derived and contrasted with myopic decision making, which treats the predator-prey system as an externality. The issue of resistance in the secondary pest is examined briefly.

With weather index insurance expanding and common property resources diminishing in low-income agricultural areas, it is essential to understand the potential effects of such insurance on resources that serve as vital input bases for low-income households. Using simple analytical constructs, we illustrate how index insurance may increase or decrease use of common property resources depending on common implementation characteristics such as binding constraints and multiple sources of income in a multi-temporal decision context. This analysis of how index insurance might assist low-income families without degrading the commons can be informative for insurance administrators and policymakers.

A structural time series model is used to estimate the supply response function for broiler production in the United States using quarterly data and a structural time series model. This model has the advantage of expressing trend and seasonal elements as stochastic components, allowing a dynamic interpretation of the results and improving the forecast capabilities of the model. The results of the estimation indicate the continued importance of feed costs to poultry production and of technology as expressed by the stochastic trend variable. However, seasonal influences appear to have become less important, since the seasonal component was not statistically significant.

Using a sample survey from Vietnam's M&RRD, this study examines both the factors affecting smallholder households’ perceptions of climate change, and the impact of climatic change on smallholders’ income and land allocation decisions. Results show a significant and negative impact of perception of climate change on income of smallholder households. Smallholders with perceived climate changes reduce land allocated to paddy crop. Farmers make strategic decision to counter the negative effects of climate change by increasing the amount of rented land for paddy crop production, while at the same time decreasing the amount of owned land allocated to paddy crop.

The implicit price (hedonic) equation for the housing market in a coastal town in southern Rhode Island was estimated using a conditional Box-Cox maximum likelihood procedure. Linear, log-linear, and semi-log functional forms were rejected with 95% confidence. Estimates of marginal implicit prices for water related attributes (view of, frontage on, and proximity to a coastal salt water pond) derived from these rejected models were quite different from those determined from the optimal functional form. This result has important ramifications for public policy, as is shown in an example, since these attributes were found to be highly valued in the housing market.

Using trout producer survey data and the contingent valuation method, we estimate willingness to pay for a potential insurance policy. The survey was conducted in 2005 across the United States; 268 producers completed the survey instrument, resulting in a response rate of 81 percent. Design of the contingent valuation method takes into account two coverage levels and four premium rates. Using standard willingness-to-pay techniques, we assess the premium rate that producers with varying practices and regions are willing to pay for two different coverage levels of insurance. In general, trout producers appear willing to pay premium rates of 2 to 11 percent for these coverage levels.

We use a random utility model for birding destination choices based on the reports of Oregon and Washington State members of the Cornell University Laboratory of Ornithology eBird citizen science project. We estimate spatially differentiated welfare effects that birders may experience as a consequence of forecasted changes in land cover and climate. We predict per-trip welfare effects (equivalent variations) expected under a business-as-usual scenario using published forecasts for both land cover and species richness. We find significant county-level heterogeneity across eBirders in predicted average per-trip welfare effects. The results suggest discernible distributional consequences across active birders in different areas.

Fruit producers in the Eastern United States face a wide range of weather-related risks that have the capacity to largely impact yields and profitability. This research examines the economic implications associated with responding to these risks for sweet cherry production in three different systems: high tunnels, revenue insurance, and weather insurance. The analysis considers a distribution of revenue flows and costs using detailed price, yield, and weather data between 1984 and 2013. Our results show that the high tunnel system generates the largest net return if significant price premiums exist for earlier and larger fruit.

The organization of the Baton Rouge, Louisiana, retail food industry was analyzed to determine whether spatial competition influenced the cost and availability of food items. Using a spatial competition gravity variable, the costs of two separate market baskets were analyzed in January 2009, and the factors influencing spatial competition were determined. Store type (chain or supercenter) was found to be the most significant determinant of food costs, validating findings of past studies. Although food was not found to be more expensive in low-income areas, results suggest that residents in low-income and rural areas have disincentives to purchase affordable, available healthy food due to the spatial organization of their local food market.

A translog cost function was estimated using pooled time series-cross section data from five Northeastern States to study structural changes in the dairy industry. The approach given in the duality theory was found useful in estimating the input demand structure under changing input prices and technology conditions. The estimated Allen partial elasticities of substitution show the existence of substitution between energy and non-energy inputs in dairy farming. Despite input price increases the dairy industry maintained competitiveness as seen by the returns to scale parameters.

A telephone survey of all of the surviving families of people killed in farm accidents in New York between 1985 and 1987 (52 of 87 families interviewed, 60% response rate) found the average total annual present value of expected income foregone because of fatal farm accidents in New York is over $8.6 million (in 1987 dollars). Less than five years after the accidents, 67% of the families who operated the farms where the accidents occurred no longer operate them and 44% no longer live on the farms.

The relative performance of public and private enterprises has been long debated. We construct a comprehensive violation dataset based on the EPA's Safe Drinking Water Information System to empirically investigate the compliance behavior of publicly and privately owned Public Water Systems (PWSs). Our results show that publicly owned PWSs commit significantly more Maximum Contamination Level, Treatment Technique, and Health-Related violations but fewer Monitor and Reporting violations than privately owned PWSs. We also find that municipal-level heterogeneities explain a substantial amount of variation in violation behaviors among PWSs, suggesting water supply quality depends crucially on location-specific regulations and local economic conditions.

In the last 20 years, both public and private expenditures on resource conservation and environmental protection have increased dramatically. However, there are numerous technical and political barriers to the efficient use of conservation funds. This paper discusses some of these barriers and approaches to overcoming them. It argues that ecosystem complexities such as threshold effects, ecosystem linkages, and spatial connections often mitigate against politically palatable criteria for resource allocation. Ignoring these complexities is likely to result in substantial efficiency losses. While challenges are daunting for the efficient management of conservation investments, payoff is potentially high for the use of sciences.