Conservation Contracting in Heterogeneous Landscapes: an application to watershed protection with threshold constraints

A key issue in the design of land use policy is how to integrate information about spatially variable biophysical and economic conditions into a cost-effective conservation plan. Using common biophysical scoring methods, in combination with economic data and simple optimization methods, we illustrate how one can identify a set of priority land parcels for conservation investment. We also demonstrate a way in which conservation agencies can incorporate concerns about biophysical thresholds in the identification of their priority land parcels. We apply these methods using Geographic Information System data from a New York conservation easement acquisition initiative for water quality protection. Working Paper # 2002-01

Are We Getting What We Paid For? The Need for Randomized Environmental Policy Experiments in Georgia

In the field of environmental policy, the decision to choose one policy over another should be evidence-based. Randomized policy experiments are important tools for generating evidence on the effectiveness of policies. They are an important component of policy design in fields such as poverty assistance, criminal rehabilitation, public education, and public health. In contrast, the use of randomized experiments in the field of environmental policy is nonexistent. In this short paper, I argue that randomized experiments are needed to improve environmental policy in Georgia. They can take place in the context of planned pilot initiatives and thus require little additional money to implement. Because they can be incorporated into the implementation of a field initiative, policy experiments also mitigate concerns that research and program implementation are mutually exclusive. However, the difference between what one can learn from a pilot initiative that uses a randomized design and from one that does not is enormous. We illustrate how one can use a randomized policy experiment in the context of an existing water conservation initiative in Georgia. Working Paper Number 2005-002

Know Thyself: Incompetence and Overconfidence

Economic analyses of asymmetric information typically start with the assumption that individuals know more about their own characteristics than outside observers. This assumption implies that individuals can accurately assess their own competence in a given domain. However, individuals can only judge their competence if they are sufficiently competent. The relationship between competence and self-awareness explains a great deal of the overconfidence observed among economic agents. More specifically, overconfidence is inversely proportional to competence. Through a series of experiments and analyses of field data, the link between incompetence and overconfidence is confirmed and its implications for economic theory are explored.overconfidence, competence, asymmetric information, gender, economic experiment

Can Encouraging Voluntary Development of Environmental Management Systems Augment Existing Regulations?

Encouraging firms to voluntarily develop environmental management systems (EMSs) has been described as a potential policy tool for achieving environmental objectives in Georgia. We survey current thinking on the subject and note several shortcomings in current methods used to evaluate what motivates private firms to adopt comprehensive EMSs. Using a unique dataset of environmental management practices of Japanese manufacturers, we find that consumer pressures, regulatory pressures, and market power are major factors that motivate firms to develop comprehensive EMSs. We also find that after controlling for self-selection bias in survey response, the effects of regulatory pressures become more significant and larger in magnitude. These results suggest that although encouraging development of EMSs has the potential to augment existing regulations, the regulatory tools are fundamental to the success of such voluntary approaches. Working Paper Number 2005-001

Investor Reactions to Information Disclosure: Can Providing Public Information About Firms' Pollution Improve Environmental Performance?

Information disclosure has been touted as a powerful tool to effect change in environmental quality. Nascent efforts to augment federal information disclosure have begun in Georgia. We conduct the first empirical analysis of investor reactions to a Pollutant Release and Transfer Register (PRTR) outside of the United States. In contrast to the U.S. studies, we find no evidence of negative investor reactions to firms listed on Japan's PRTR. We identify several institutional reasons for these contradictory results. Our results suggest that PRTRs may not have the same effect in all locations and thus further empirical studies of the burgeoning number of PRTRs being implemented globally are warranted. Working Paper Number 2005-001

Cultural Diversity, Discrimination and Economic Outcomes: an experimental analysis

Economists have paid increasing attention to the role of cultural diversity in explaining the variability of economic outcomes across societies. We develop an experimental framework that complements existing research in this area. We implement the framework with two cultures that coexist in an industrialized society: the Hispanic and Navajo cultures in the southwestern United States. We vary the ethnic mix of our experimental sessions in order to infer the effect of intercultural interactions on economic behavior and outcomes. We control for demographic differences in our subject pools and elicit beliefs directly in order to differentiate between statistical discrimination and preference-based discrimination. We present clear evidence that Hispanic and Navajo subjects behave differently and that their behavior is affected by the ethnic composition of the experimental session. Our experimental framework has the potential to shed much needed light on economic behavior and outcomes in societies of mixed ethnicity, race and religion.culture, diversity, discrimination, bargaining, economic experiments

Optimizing The Riparian Buffer: Harold Brook In The Skaneateles Lake Watershed, New York

The use of riparian land buffers to protect water quality for human consumption and wildlife habitat has become an important conservation tool of both government and non-government agencies. The funds available to acquire private lands for riparian buffers are limited, however, and not all land contributes to water quality goals in the same way. Conservation agencies must therefore identify effective ways to allocate their scarce budgets in heterogeneous landscapes. We demonstrate how the acquisition of land for a riparian buffer can be viewed as a binary optimization problem and we apply the resulting model to a case study in New York (JEL Q15, Q25). Working Paper # 2002-00

A Reassessment of the Potential for Loss-framed Incentive Contracts to Increase Productivity: A Meta-analysis and a Real-effort Experiment

Substantial productivity increases have been reported when incentives are framed as losses rather than gains. Loss-framed contracts have also been reported to be preferred by workers. The results from our meta-analysis and real-effort experiment challenge these claims. The meta-analysis\u27 summary effect size of loss framing is a 0.16 SD increase in productivity. Whereas the summary effect size in laboratory experiments is a 0.33 SD, the summary effect size from field experiments is 0.02 SD. We detect evidence of publication biases among laboratory experiments. In a new laboratory experiment that addresses prior design weaknesses, we estimate an effect size of 0.12 SD. This result, in combination with the meta-analysis, suggests that the difference between the effect size estimates in laboratory and field experiments does not stem from the limited external validity of laboratory experiments, but may instead stem from a mix of underpowered laboratory designs and publication biases. More- over, in our experiment, most workers preferred the gain-framed contract and the increase in average productivity is only detectable in the subgroup of workers (20%) who preferred the loss-framed contracts. Based on the results from our experiment and meta-analysis, we believe that behavioral scientists should better assess preferences for loss-framed contracts and the magnitude of their effects on productivity before advocating for greater use of such contracts among private and public sector actors

Cultural Diversity, Discrimination and Economic Outcomes: An Experimental Analysis

Economists have paid increasing attention to the role of cultural diversity in explaining the variability of economic outcomes across societies. We develop an experimental framework that complements existing research in this area. We implement the framework with two cultures that coexist in an industrialized society: the Hispanic and Navajo cultures in the southwestern United States. We vary the ethnic mix of our experimental sessions in order to infer the effect of intercultural interactions on economic behavior and outcomes. We control for demographic differences in our subject pools and elicit beliefs directly in order to differentiate between statistical discrimination and preference-based discrimination. We present clear evidence that Hispanic and Navajo subjects behave differently and that their behavior is affected by the ethnic composition of the experimental session. Our experimental framework has the potential to shed much needed light on economic behavior and outcomes in societies of mixed ethnicity, race and religion

Those who vote are also more likely to contribute to other public goods

It is incredibly unlikely that any one person’s vote will change the outcome of an election and individuals derive no immediate benefit from the actual act of voting, making it a deeply altruistic act. Following this idea, Toby Bolsen, Paul J. Ferraro, and Juan Jose Miranda examine whether voters are also more likely to take action on other issues that have a positive societal impact, but no direct benefit to them. They found that when asked to conserve water during a drought, frequent voters, regardless of political affiliation, made more significant reductions to their water consumption than non-voters