{"title":"Valuing ecosystem services from restoring ancient irrigation systems: An application comparing labor vs. monetary payments for choice experiments","authors":"S. Dissanayake, S. Vidanage","doi":"10.1017/age.2023.24","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/age.2023.24","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The use of stated preference methods with monetary payments in developing countries can be problematic as barter and paying with labor are common in rural areas. In response, a growing number of stated preference studies explore using monetary and nonmonetary payment options. We contribute to this literature by exploring the impact of monetary vs. labor payment options on values elicited from choice experiment studies conducted in rural developing country settings. We also contribute to the literature by comparing data-gathering methods, specifically individual surveys vs. group information sessions. Our application is the restoration of an ancient irrigation system known as cascading tank systems in Sri Lanka. We conduct a choice experiment to understand the willingness to pay/willingness to contribute of rural households to restore these irrigation systems. We find that in the individual survey setting, there are no significant differences between monetary and labor payments. We also find that there is no difference between the group and individual survey settings for the monetary payment treatment. For the labor payment treatment, the group setting results in a positive payment coefficient for the labor payment attribute. This highlights that labor payments should be used cautiously in group evaluation settings.","PeriodicalId":44443,"journal":{"name":"Agricultural and Resource Economics Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2023-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43294771","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Fed dairy cattle market reporting: Changing marketing methods, regional variation, and hedonic modeling","authors":"T. Schroeder, G. Tonsor, Brian K. Coffey","doi":"10.1017/age.2023.25","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/age.2023.25","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Fed dairy cattle represent an important and growing component of the U.S. fed cattle market. However, little is known about factors affecting fed dairy cattle transaction prices. This study analyzes confidential transaction-level data collected by United States Department of Agriculture Agricultural (USDA) Marketing Service (AMS) under Livestock Mandatory Reporting to determine how data collected for price reporting explains price variation. Hedonic models are developed to illustrate potential use to enhance fed dairy cattle price reporting. However, important price variation remains unexplained suggesting factors not available in AMS data are associated with fed dairy cattle price variation. We suggest AMS collect and utilize additional data to enhance price reporting.","PeriodicalId":44443,"journal":{"name":"Agricultural and Resource Economics Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2023-07-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47272727","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Contaminated water and the Food Safety Modernization Act","authors":"Marziyeh Bahalou Horeh, L. Elbakidze, R. Garth","doi":"10.1017/age.2023.22","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/age.2023.22","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 We develop a theoretical framework and presents a corresponding empirical analysis of the Food and Drug Administration’s irrigation water quality regulatory standard under the Food Safety Modernization Act using lettuce as a case study. We develop a stochastic price endogenous partial equilibrium model with recourse to examine the standard’s efficacy under various scenarios of foodborne illness severity, standard implementation, demand response to foodborne outbreaks, and irrigation costs. The stringency of regulation is evaluated with endogenous producer response to regulatory requirements and corresponding implications for economic surplus. The baseline results show that in the case of the lettuce market, the proposed microbial irrigation water quality regulation in the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) is not cost effective relative to the existing Leafy-Greens Marketing Agreements relying on water treatment for mitigation of microbial contamination. However, FSMA can be cost effective if water treatment is sufficiently expensive.","PeriodicalId":44443,"journal":{"name":"Agricultural and Resource Economics Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2023-07-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44440280","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Trade-offs between indigenous forest and exotic production forest in New Zealand","authors":"P. Walsh, T. Soliman, A. Daigneault","doi":"10.1017/age.2023.7","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/age.2023.7","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract With its varied landscape of hills and mountains, New Zealand has an abundance of marginal land on its slopes. This land is currently used in a variety of enterprises, such as pasture and farmland. However, marginal land is typically associated with higher rates of erosion, shallow topsoil, expensive fencing, and other issues like livestock deaths from falls. There is currently interest in deploying these marginal lands to different uses to align with several environmental and production-related goals. This paper contributes to the discussion on marginal land by exploring three different scenarios related to afforestation in the Manawatu catchment area. To analyze these scenarios, we bring together several complex and spatially explicit data sets which are linked using economic modeling tools and benefits transfer methods. The combination of these tools and data sets allows us to produce several important quantitative and qualitative outputs. Where possible, quantitative predictions are monetized, allowing a benefit-cost analysis of the proposed scenarios.","PeriodicalId":44443,"journal":{"name":"Agricultural and Resource Economics Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2023-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44814983","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Jorge Salgado, Rommel Montúfar, Jacob Gehrung, Shady S. Atallah
{"title":"Intergenerational livelihood dependence on ecosystem services: A descriptive analysis of the ivory palm in coastal Ecuador – ERRATUM","authors":"Jorge Salgado, Rommel Montúfar, Jacob Gehrung, Shady S. Atallah","doi":"10.1017/age.2023.23","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/age.2023.23","url":null,"abstract":"An abstract is not available for this content. As you have access to this content, full HTML content is provided on this page. A PDF of this content is also available in through the ‘Save PDF’ action button.","PeriodicalId":44443,"journal":{"name":"Agricultural and Resource Economics Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-06-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135454524","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Eliciting policy-relevant stated preference values for water quality: An application to New Zealand","authors":"P. Walsh, Dennis Guignet, Pamela L. Booth","doi":"10.1017/age.2023.20","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/age.2023.20","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Governments need tools to analyze trade-offs for freshwater policy, yet valuation estimates from the literature can be difficult to deploy in a policy setting. Obstacles to benefit transfer include (i) difficulties in scaling up local estimates, (ii) water quality attributes that cannot be linked to policy, and (iii) surveys positing large, unrealistic water quality changes. Focusing on freshwater rivers and streams in New Zealand, we develop and implement a nationwide discrete choice stated preference study aimed at future benefit transfer. The stated provision mechanism and environmental commodity being valued are specified at the regional council level, which is the administrative unit for policy implementation. The survey is administered on a national scale with three attributes – nutrients, water clarity, and E. coli levels – which were chosen to align with government policy levers and salience to the public. Estimation results demonstrate positive and significant willingness to pay values for improvements in each attribute, with magnitudes that are comparable to a recent referendum vote on a water quality tax. To illustrate the utility of our study, we apply the results to a recent policy analyzed by New Zealand’s Ministry for the Environment and estimate nationwide annual benefits of NZ $115 million ($77 million USD).","PeriodicalId":44443,"journal":{"name":"Agricultural and Resource Economics Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2023-06-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45662125","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Public attitudes and preferences for green rooftop technologies in the US: a choice experiment","authors":"Natalie Meyer, Simona Trandafir","doi":"10.1017/age.2023.17","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/age.2023.17","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Green rooftops, also known as vegetated roofs, will play a critical role in enhancing the resilience of urban areas in the face of climate change and other contemporary environmental and social challenges. To ensure the optimal design and implementation of these green technologies, it is vital to understand the public’s preferences, values, and attitudes toward the government support for green rooftops. This study employs contingent valuation methods, specifically utilizing a payment card and a choice experiment, to investigate these topics that have received inadequate exploration within the current body of literature. Our findings indicate that 45% of the public is aware of green rooftops, and the most desired features on an extensive green rooftop, ranked by importance, are: flowers, grass, trees, and walking paths. The majority (79%) of the public supports a federally proposed legislation currently under review (the Public School Green Rooftop Program) and has a mean willingness to pay of approximately $176 per household as a one-time payment. Additionally, the results show that individuals place a higher value on green rooftops that incorporate solar energy technology compared to those without. Furthermore, there is a perceived, loss of value when access to a green rooftop is limited, as opposed to having open access.","PeriodicalId":44443,"journal":{"name":"Agricultural and Resource Economics Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2023-06-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43839971","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
J. Salgado, R. Montúfar, Jacob Gehrung, S. Atallah
{"title":"Intergenerational livelihood dependence on ecosystem services: A descriptive analysis of the ivory palm in coastal Ecuador","authors":"J. Salgado, R. Montúfar, Jacob Gehrung, S. Atallah","doi":"10.1017/age.2023.21","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/age.2023.21","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Research on ecosystem services (ES) is heavily concentrated on ecological and economic indicators and values, with a much more limited understanding of communities’ dependence on cultural ES. That body of research is also typically focused on current generations and generates limited insights into the intergenerational dynamics of ES dependence. We use a survey of six palm harvesting communities in coastal western Ecuador to assess the livelihood dependence of four generations on 17 ES provided by the ivory palm, a near-threatened keystone species in Ecuador, Colombia, and Panama. Despite the historical prominence of the use of the ivory palm’s nut, we find that dependence is highest for regulating, supporting, and cultural ES, a result that holds across generations. We find a negative association between the current generation’s dependence on the ivory palm’s provisioning ES and that of their grandparents, who experienced the historical boom of the ivory palm’s nut exports. In contrast, respondents expect the future generation’s dependence to be positively associated with that of the grandparents’ generation. We find that provisioning ES have a complementary relationship with cultural ES and a substitutive relationship with supporting ES. Relationships across ES categories can be reversed from one generation to the next.","PeriodicalId":44443,"journal":{"name":"Agricultural and Resource Economics Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2023-06-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"56949465","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Towards equity in land protection","authors":"Katharine R. E. Sims","doi":"10.1017/age.2023.18","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/age.2023.18","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Land protection not only supports vital ecosystem services but also poses important challenges for social equity. Three key concerns emerge from economic frameworks about land protection policies: potential lost local economic development, reinforcement of existing structural inequalities, and disparities in access to the benefits of protected land. This article reviews evidence for each concern and identifies research needs as well as potential improvements in policy that could better support equity goals. Pathways forward towards greater equity include specific mechanisms that can ensure local communities benefit from land protection, attention to issues of spatial impacts and timing, explicit prioritization of equity in land protection initiatives, and community-centred processes. Economists have and can continue to play a role in strengthening these dimensions of land protection policies.","PeriodicalId":44443,"journal":{"name":"Agricultural and Resource Economics Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2023-06-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48774604","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The financial implications of specialization, diversification, or alternative enterprises on small farms: Evidence from Tennessee","authors":"A. Khanal, Renu Ojha","doi":"10.1017/age.2023.19","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/age.2023.19","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 In response to survival challenges, small farms in the United States undertake decisions to minimize downside risk or maximize gross revenue. Using primary survey data of small farms in Tennessee, we examined farmers’ strategic decisions on specialization or other forms of diversification and estimated the impacts of these decisions on farm financial performance. We found that farmer’s age, farmland holdings, use of a smartphone in farm-related activities, and off-farm work significantly influenced these strategic decisions. Our multinomial endogenous switching regression estimates suggested that small farms could attain significantly higher performance, around 45% higher gross farm income and a 30% higher return on assets, by adding alternative on-farm enterprises.","PeriodicalId":44443,"journal":{"name":"Agricultural and Resource Economics Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2023-05-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46619086","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}