Economic Impacts of Noxious Facilities: Incorporating the Effects of Risk Aversion

The author suggests an integrative approach for projecting economic impacts of facilities that elicit public Risk aversion. She incorporates both economic stimulus effects and perception-based effects of facilities on the host area economy. Empirical findings are compared and an impact estimation framework is suggested for integrating psychometric and econometric techniques

Technical Barriers to Interstate Trade: Noxious Weed Regulations

We focus on regulations controlling the spread of noxious weeds, especially the trade effects of regulatory differences across U.S. states. We specify a gravity model for each state’s seed, nursery product, and commodity trade with each other state. Within the gravity model, we examine the role of cross-state regulatory congruence arising from ecological and agronomic characteristics and interest-group lobbying. A spatial-autoregressive Tobit model is estimated with a modified expectation-maximization algorithm. Results show that weed regulatory congruence positively affects interstate trade. By fostering cross-state regulatory differences, consumer and commodity-producer lobbying reduce the value of interstate trade by about two percent per annum.interstate trade, invasive species, rent-seeking, Agribusiness, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Land Economics/Use, Political Economy, Public Economics, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, F1, H7, Q5,

Microbial Foodborne Disease: Hospitalizations, Medical Costs and Potential Demand for Safer Food

Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Health Economics and Policy,

LANDSAT range resource information system project, volume 1

There are no author-identified significant results in this report

RANCH OPERATORS' PERCEPTIONS OF LEAFY SPURGE

A survey of 459 ranchers was conducted to evaluate managerial, institutional, and social factors that may affect the rate and extent of implementation of various leafy spurge (Euphorbia esula L.) controls in a five-county region in Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming. Ranchers returned 187 questionnaires. Weeds were considered a greater problem for ranchers with leafy spurge than for those without leafy spurge; however, even among ranchers with leafy spurge, there was strong agreement that other ranching issues were of greater concern. Over 65 percent of the respondents indicated that weeds on their ranch were a `minor problem.' Leafy spurge was ranked as the most important weed. Nearly 60 percent of ranchers felt that using herbicides, biological agents, and grazing animals on leafy spurge were economical; however, only 25 percent of ranchers with leafy spurge felt those controls were `very effective.' A majority of ranchers with leafy spurge indicated plans to treat their infestations with herbicides and biological agents in the future. Reasons for not using various leafy spurge controls fell into environmental, educational, and financial categories. Ranchers depend heavily on their county extension agents and local weed control officers for information on weed control. Information on the effectiveness and economics of various controls was most requested by ranchers. The responses of ranchers to various statements on weed and range management indicated that ranchers, as a group, are generally very concerned about weeds in rangeland. Respondents generally felt it makes economic sense to control weeds in rangeland, and felt very strongly that not enough was being done to control weeds on public land. Ranchers realize the difficulty in controlling leafy spurge, but indicated they are still planning on fighting the weed in the future. Financial and educational constraints to adopting and using leafy spurge controls could be abated through university and governmental educational programs and through cost-share or other financial assistance.leafy spurge, control, rancher opinion, Farm Management, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Dying to work? An investigation into work-related stress, quitting intentions and absenteeism

The paper uses data from the International Social Surveys Program (ISSP) to investigate work-related stress among a group of 15 OECD countries. It examines the determinants of work-related stress and explores the importance of work-related stress as a predictor of individuals' quitting behaviour and the rate of absenteeism. We find that those individuals reporting to experience at least some stress in their current position are 25% more likely to hold intentions to quit or be absent from work than those without any job stress, with the probability of intending to quit or being absent increasing with successively higher work-related stress levels.

Hazard's Toll: The Costs of Inaction at the Salton Sea

The objective of this report is to estimate the costs of inaction - defined as the absence of any large-scale revitalization or air quality management project - at the Salton Sea, to provide decision-makers and the general public with information for deciding on a path forward