An Experimental Analysis of a Points-Based System for Managing Multispecies Fisheries

An industry group has proposed a novel system for managing the Northeast Multispecies Fishery. Each harvester would be endowed with a budget of points, and each species would have a “point price,†or number of points that must be paid out of his budget when landing that species. By varying the point prices throughout the season, management could redirect effort across species. This paper presents a benchmarked experimental testbed of this management system, and shows that harvesters do respond to point prices, which can be chosen to support harvest of most of the allowable catch of each species without severely over-harvesting any of them.multispecies fishery, points system, economic experiment, quota, derby, Environmental Economics and Policy, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

How Institutions Affect Outcomes in Laboratory Tradable Fishing Allowance Systems

The objective of this paper is to illustrate that economic institutions matter, i.e., that different rules of trade present different incentives for bidding, asking, and trading in new markets, and that these different incentives lead to different price discovery patterns, which yield materially different outcomes. In a laboratory tradable fishing allowance system, when trade takes place through a double auction, which parallels an institution common in extant tradable allowance systems, markets are characterized by high volatility, and equilibrium does not obtain. However, when only leases, and not permanent trades, are permitted in the early periods, volatility is significantly reduced and equilibrium obtains. This dependence of equilibration and outcomes on institutions implies policy-oriented economists must consider institutions in designing new market-based management systems.Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

A Laboratory Assessment of Tradable Fishing Allowances

Transferable allowance management systems are receiving increased attention from fishery managers and stakeholders alike. We use a laboratory experiment in which human subjects play the role of fishers to evaluate the promised economic efficiency of tradable allowance systems. In an experiment designed to parallel the most common rules for trading allowances, we find that allowance prices are only weakly associated with the value of the fishing right it provides. Instead, we find a high degree of price variability, consistent with field experiences. In the lab, this variability hampers convergence and supports speculation, leading to average prices much higher than the equilibrium value of allowances. During this protracted price discovery, allowances are misallocated and efficiency falls. Modifications to the market institutions used in most tradable allowance systems to improve price discovery and enhance efficiency are discussed.fishery management, ITQs, tradable fishing rights, transferable allowances, experiments, asset markets, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, Q22, Q28, G12,

Economic Evaluation of Catch Share Program: Rhode Island Fluke Fishery Sector Pilot Program

Catch share, sector allocation, fishery management, Demand and Price Analysis, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, Q22, Q28,

Millimeter and Submillimeter Survey of the R Corona Australis Region

Using a combination of data from the Antarctic Submillimeter Telescope and Remote Observatory (AST/RO), the Arizona Radio Observatory Kitt Peak 12m telescope and the Arizona Radio Observatory 10m Heinrich Hertz Telescope, we have studied the most active part of the R CrA molecular cloud in multiple transitions of Carbon Monoxide, HCO$^+$ and 870\micron continuum emission. Since R CrA is nearby (130 pc), we are able to obtain physical spatial resolution as high as 0.01pc over an area of 0.16 pc$^2$, with velocity resolution finer than 1 km/s. Mass estimates of the protostar driving the mm-wave emission derived from HCO$^+$, dust continuum emission and kinematic techniques point to a young, deeply embedded protostar of $\sim$0.5-0.75 M$_\odot$, with a gaseous envelope of similar mass. A molecular outflow is driven by this source that also contains at least 0.8 M$_\odot$ of molecular gas with $\sim$0.5 L$_\odot$ of mechanical luminosity. HCO$^+$ lines show the kinematic signature of infall motions as well as bulk rotation. The source is most likely a Class 0 protostellar object not yet visible at near-IR wavelengths. With the combination of spatial and spectral resolution in our data set, we are able to disentangle the effects of infall, rotation and outflow towards this young object.Comment: 29 pages, 9 figures. Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journa

Marketing Ecosystem Services from Agricultural Land: Stated Preferences over Payment Mechanisms and Actual Sales of Farm-Wildlife Contracts

Agriculture conventionally supplies food, fiber and fuel that consumers can purchase through the market. With the right incentives, farmers can also provide ecosystem services such as wildlife habitat, climate regulation, surface water flows and waste absorption and breakdown. Such incentives have so far come almost entirely from government-sponsored programs that rely on financial assistance to farmers to encourage them to alter agricultural practices or input mix to enhance ecosystem services. Programs recently implemented in Costa Rica and Columbia rely on payments by the beneficiaries of the ecosystem services, such as municipal water companies and water users (Pagiola et al. 2002). Few of these programs, however, have attempted to establish a market for ecosystem services in which the beneficiaries of such services pay the suppliers their personal values of ecosystem services in an actual market. Markets for ecosystem services must overcome two major challenges. In order to set prices for ecosystem services at the right level, it is imperative to understand consumers preferences. Farmland, however, has multiple attributes such as wildlife habitat services and landscape view; the marginal rate of substitution among those attributes must be understood to design marketable products for ecosystem services. Moreover, many ecosystem services are public goods for which traditional markets are ill-suited, because many individuals can receive benefits simultaneously regardless of whether they have paid part of the cost of provision. Therefore, consumers have an incentive to free-ride on others. Evidence from previous research on public goods clearly suggests that under-contribution is typical (e.g., Ledyard 1995). The overall goal of this study is to explore the potential to establish an actual market in which the public can purchase ecosystem services generated by agricultural land. More specifically, this paper evaluates the performance of alternative elicitation methods that are intended to reduce individuals incentives to free-ride on others payments for ecosystem services. Using a choice experiment involving a large-scale mail survey, we first estimate the marginal rate of substitution consumers place on various attributes of farmland including the ecosystem services such land can provide. We further compare the results across different payment mechanisms and examine which ones are capable of revealing demand that is closer to consumers true value. Second, we attempt to establish an actual market in which individuals are asked to purchase a share of a farm contract to provide ecosystem service with real money under different payment mechanisms. We compare the market outcomes with the choice experiments. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to examine the performance of different payment mechanisms for provision of ecosystem services using field experiments both within a hypothetical setting and by developing an actual market. The ecosystem service in question in this study is habitat for a grassland-nesting bird called the Bobolink (Dolichonyx oryivorus). Yellow and black Bobolinks establish ground nests in hay fields from mid-May into early June. Their visibility and entertaining character, combined with evidence that many birds, including bobolinks, are experiencing population declines (Sauer et al. 2004), make the bird a leading candidate to attract public interest in efforts to manage farmland for vulnerable wildlife. Previous studies have established that hay harvesting conducted during the birds five to six week nesting period is devastating to fledgling success (e.g., Mitchell et al. 2000). A fairly moderate shift in the harvest schedule could provide significant refuge for nesting birds while causing some losses of the quantity and quality of the hay harvested. If a market developed that paid farmers acceptable compensation to protect grassland birds, then farmers would have an incentive to add an ecosystem service to their revenue base while enhancing environmental quality for wildlife. In this study, we compare four payment mechanisms applied in field experiments: 1) voluntary contribution mechanism, 2) provision point with a money-back guarantee and proportional rebate of excess contributions (PPMBG-PR), 3) uniform-price, multi-buyer auction and 4) pivotal mechanism. Voluntary contribution mechanism has no provision point but has a money-back guarantee if enough money is not raised. Under PPMBG-PR, the public good is supplied only if a pre-specified amount of money (the provision point) is raised, and contributors receive their money back if the market fails to raise that amount. Under a multi-buyer auction, everyone who is willing to pay above a certain price will pay a price such that the total sum will be enough to cover the cost for a farmer to change harvest practices. Under a pivotal mechanism only those consumers whose payments make a difference in the provision of the good would pay. The pivotal mechanism is incentive compatible and is used as the baseline. We test the following hypotheses on the WTP, market participation rate and total revenue collection: (1) WTP: Voluntary contribution < Multi-buyer Auction < PPMBG-PR < Pivotal (2) Participation rate: Voluntary contribution < PPMBG-PR < Multi-buyer auction < Pivotal (3) Revenue collection: Pivotal < Voluntary < Multi-buyer auction < PPMBG-PR We perform a large-scale cross-mechanism comparison using two types of field experiments, a survey involving hypothetical questions and a functioning market for an ecosystem service. In the survey, the subjects are randomly assigned to one of the elicitation methods. We posit a hypothetical situation involving a market for contracts with farmers, describe the assigned elicitation method and ask respondents to compare several sets of two alternative farm wildlife contracts, each with five attributes presented in a stated-choice format. One of the attributes is to change the timing of hay harvesting to enhance the success of a specified number of bobolink fledglings on a given size of farm. The survey data were collected in fall of 2006. Survey questionnaires were sent to all of the 2,987 households in Jamestown, Rhode Island. The response rate was about 37% after accounting for undelivered surveys. Although still preliminary, a key result from the choice experiment is that consumers are least willing to pay for farm wildlife contracts under the voluntary contribution mechanism. The payment method that generated the greatest total purchases of farm wildlife contracts was the multi-buyer auction, followed by the pivotal mechanism and PPMBG-PR, respectively. This result suggests that some features of the payment mechanisms (such as setting of a provision point, fairness and a money-back guarantee) encourage consumers to reveal demand that is closer to each consumer true value of the good than the demand revealed by a simple voluntary contribution mechanism in a field experiment using a hypothetical situation. We are currently in the process of launching an ecosystem-service market in Jamestown by establishing actual farm wildlife contracts with farmers and selling shares of those contracts to consumers. The market will be open to the public for two months during March and April, 2007. Each farm wildlife contract will be tied to one or more of the payment mechanisms and whether each contract will remain effective during the breeding season will depend on the market outcome under each mechanism. Consumers will be randomly assigned to one of the elicitation methods. Using market data, we will compare the actual consumer behavior across alternative methods and also to their willingness to pay as estimated in the survey choice experiment.Land Economics/Use,

HABITAT UTILIZATION BY THE TEXAS HORNED LIZARD (PHRYNOSOMA CORNUTUM) FROM TWO SITES IN CENTRAL TEXAS

The Texas Horned Lizard (Phrynosoma cornutum) is found in a variety of habitats. Although several studies have been conducted on habitat use by this species, none have been performed in central Texas, a more mesic habitat than most of those previously studied. This area is of special interest because horned lizard populations have been experiencing sharp declines in central Texas over the last approximately 50 years. We collected habitat data at two sites in central Texas, Camp Bowie and Blue Mountain Peak Ranch. Microhabitat data included canopy cover and ground cover from digitized photographs of Daubenmire quadrats; macrohabitat variables included vegetation height and length, cactus height, soil penetrability, woody plant species richness, tree density, tree diameter at breast height (DBH), and density of ant mounds collected along 100-m by 2-m transects. Similar patterns of habitat use were observed between the two sites. At Blue Mountain Peak Ranch, lizards appeared to be located in areas with a diversity of ground cover types, as observed in previous studies. At Camp Bowie, vegetation encroachment limited lizards in some areas to the use of roads and road margins. Implementation of prescribed burns or other vegetation management could create the preferred ground cover mosaic at such sites

Racial Disparities in Cancer Screening Among Women with Chronic Joint Pain

Chronic pain related disorders and breast and cervical cancer are more prevalent among African-American women compared with non-Hispanic White women. However, few studies address how racial differences in the context of comorbidity may compound these disparities. This study used secondary analysis of the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) to assess racial differences in breast and cervical cancer screening and patient education among adult women with chronic joint pain conditions. Statistical analyses included chi-square and independent samples t-tests. African-American women compared with non-Hispanic White women were less likely to receive a pap smear or mammogram within the last two years and receive patient education (p\u3c0.01). Due to competing demands, women with chronic joint pain may not receive preventive services. The results of this study can be used to formulate interventions and evaluate approaches to reduce racial disparities in outpatient service delivery in terms of continuity and scope of care