Modeling recreation demand for British forests: An application of an endogenously stratified and truncated log-normal distribution

Evaluating the value of British forests is important for forest policies' making. Since the number of visitors to British forests is quite large and each visitor's visiting frequency is high, the conventional count data models which focus on small integers may not cope adequately with this big number of visitation. This study utilizes newly developed endogenously stratified and truncated distributions to model the recreation demand for British Forests

Wideband Digital Signal Processing Test-Bed for Radiometric RFI Mitigation

Radio Frequency Interference (RFI) is a persistent and growing problem experienced by spaceborne microwave radiometers. Recent missions such as SMOS, SMAP, and GPM have detected RFI in L, C, X, and K bands. To proactively deal with this issue, microwave radiometers must (1) Utilize new algorithms for RFI detection (2) Utilize fast digital back-ends that sample at hundreds of MHz. The wideband digital signal processing testbed (WB-RFI) is a platform that allows rapid development and testing various RFI detection and mitigation algorithms

Economic Impacts of Non-Native Forest Insects in the Continental United States

Reliable estimates of the impacts and costs of biological invasions are critical to developing credible management, trade and regulatory policies. Worldwide, forests and urban trees provide important ecosystem services as well as economic and social benefits, but are threatened by non-native insects. More than 450 non-native forest insects are established in the United States but estimates of broad-scale economic impacts associated with these species are largely unavailable. We developed a novel modeling approach that maximizes the use of available data, accounts for multiple sources of uncertainty, and provides cost estimates for three major feeding guilds of non-native forest insects. For each guild, we calculated the economic damages for five cost categories and we estimated the probability of future introductions of damaging pests. We found that costs are largely borne by homeowners and municipal governments. Wood- and phloem-boring insects are anticipated to cause the largest economic impacts by annually inducing nearly $1.7 billion in local government expenditures and approximately$830 million in lost residential property values. Given observations of new species, there is a 32% chance that another highly destructive borer species will invade the U.S. in the next 10 years. Our damage estimates provide a crucial but previously missing component of cost-benefit analyses to evaluate policies and management options intended to reduce species introductions. The modeling approach we developed is highly flexible and could be similarly employed to estimate damages in other countries or natural resource sectors

Environmental consciousness and choice of bulb for lighting in a developing country

Background: Most countries in the world especially those in Asia and Africa have been undertaking policies meant to help promote science, technology and innovation towards meeting some provisions of the Sustainable Development Goals. However, there is still a sizable number of households who have not yet fully embraced energy-saving technologies. This study provides highlights on the economic and environmental benefits for investing in energy-saving light bulbs. Methods: Using a survey and a multistage random sampling approach, we administered questionnaires to 1650 households in Ghana. The relevant diagnostic tests associated with cross-sectional data were undertaken. We estimated a maximum-likelihood probit model with its associated marginal effects to find out how the choice of energy-saving light bulb (behaviour) is influenced by environmental consciousness (both local knowledge and global knowledge) and other demographic factors. Results: Our results are consistent with economic theory as well as what earlier empirical evidence found in literature. That is, environmental consciousness, education, income, etc. are very important in explaining the choice of buying energy-saving light bulbs in Ghana. Conclusions: Besides advocating for information that will make society more environmentally conscious, we further recommend the use of fiscal policies (i.e. subsidies) to support lower income brackets who are predominant in developing countries

On Combining Stated Preferences and Revealed Preferences Approaches to Evaluate Environmental Resources Having a Recreational Use

This work aims at analysing the value of recreational water uses for the Idro Lake (Lombardy, Northern Italy), which has been experiencing dramatic fluctuations in its levels in recent years, due to excessive productive withdrawal that affected recreational uses. It estimates the economic benefits deriving from recreational uses, by considering the current recreational demand and the hypothetical one obtained by considering an “improved quality” scenario. Through an on-site survey, we built a panel dataset. Following Whitehead et al. (2000) and Hanley et al. (2003) we get welfare estimates by combining SP and RP responses. The present CS is estimated in €134 per individual, whilst the increase in CS is estimated in €173 per individual. These figures can be confronted with the economic value of competitive uses and with the clean up costs, respectively, to infer some policy indications

Specifications and sampling considerations in estimated demand for an area of outstanding natural beauty: The Illas Cíes in Galicia.

[EN] In this paper, we present estimates of several specifications of demand for a singular natural area using data from surveys on visitors and non-visitors. The estimates take into account the problems of functional form, measurement of the cost and of the demand, choosing sampling scheme, and handling the sample. Considering these alternatives allows us to select a specification of demand under improved conditions and frees us from initial restrictive hypothesis. The results in terms of prediction of demand and consumer surplus estimates are quite dissimilar, stressing the importance of comparing various specifications that encompass a range of possible options.[ES] En este trabajo se presentan estimaciones de diferentes especificaciones de demanda para un espacio recreativo singular a partir de la información de entrevistas a visitantes y no visitantes. Tenemos en cuenta los problemas de forma funcional, de medición del coste y demanda, de elección de una técnica de muestreo y de tratamiento de la muestra. La consideración de estas alternativas permite elegir una especificación en mejores condiciones y nos aleja de supuestos iniciales restrictivos. Los resultados en términos de predicción de la demanda y estimación del excedente son bastante divergentes, resaltando la importancia de comparar diferentes especificaciones que incluyan el espectro de opciones potenciales.González Gómez, M.; Polomé, P.; Prada Blanco, A. (2001). Especificaciones y consideraciones muestrales en la estimación de la demanda de un espacio natural singular: Las Illas Cíes en Galicia. Economía Agraria y Recursos Naturales - Agricultural and Resource Economics. 1(2):67-92. doi:10.7201/earn.2001.02.04SWORD67921

Economic Impacts of Non-Native Forest Insects in the Continental United States

Reliable estimates of the impacts and costs of biological invasions are critical to developing credible management, trade and regulatory policies. Worldwide, forests and urban trees provide important ecosystem services as well as economic and social benefits, but are threatened by non-native insects. More than 450 non-native forest insects are established in the United States but estimates of broad-scale economic impacts associated with these species are largely unavailable. We developed a novel modeling approach that maximizes the use of available data, accounts for multiple sources of uncertainty, and provides cost estimates for three major feeding guilds of non-native forest insects. For each guild, we calculated the economic damages for five cost categories and we estimated the probability of future introductions of damaging pests. We found that costs are largely borne by homeowners and municipal governments. Wood- and phloem-boring insects are anticipated to cause the largest economic impacts by annually inducing nearly $1.7 billion in local government expenditures and approximately$830 million in lost residential property values. Given observations of new species, there is a 32% chance that another highly destructive borer species will invade the U.S. in the next 10 years. Our damage estimates provide a crucial but previously missing component of cost-benefit analyses to evaluate policies and management options intended to reduce species introductions. The modeling approach we developed is highly flexible and could be similarly employed to estimate damages in other countries or natural resource sectors