Abstract

Collaboration with other Land Grant Universities' environmental and resource economists on developing methods of valuing environmental resources that can be applied to policy making and mandated benefit to cost analyses of public decisions.

Issue

While this project has four objectives, New York has contributed to Valuing Ecosystem Management of Forests and Watersheds in 2004. In addition, New York has contributed to the overall objectives of this multi-state project to develop non-market valuation techniques that can contribute to benefit-cost analyses of public projects.

Response

ith respect to Valuing Ecosystem Management of Forests and Watersheds, New York continues to work with Pennsylvania and colleagues in Europe on contingent valuation approaches to ecosystem valuation. Two journal articles from this effort were published in 2004 from this effort in Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Ecological Economics and a third is forthcoming in 2005 Aquatic Sciences.

These papers examine motives and design effects on willingness to pay for environmental improvements and the determination of scope (i.e., how responsive is the willingness to pay for changes in environmental quality). Consistent with the objective, each focuses on contingent values for protecting water resources.

With respect to the overall objective of this project, a methodological paper was published in 2004 Environmental and Resource Economics and two others have been accepted for publication in the leading agricultural economics American Journal of Agricultural Economics and environmental economics journals Journal of Environmental Economics and Management. The published paper focuses on modeling and statistical techniques necessary for estimating willingness to pay values from different contingent valuation response formats. The forthcoming papers focus on methods of statistical analysis or contingent valuation responses.

Impact

Highly cited journal articles and benefit cost estimates that have been incorporated into CAFO permitting program.

Funding Sources

• Federal Formula Funds - Research (e.g., Hatch, McIntire-Stennis, Animal Health)

Collaborators

• W-1133 Participants

Key Personnel

• Gregory Poe, Department of Applied Economics and Management, Cornell University