Essays on Environmental and Natural Resource Economics.

This dissertation addresses issues in the economics of the environment and natural resources. The first chapter pertains to the inclusion of environmental objectives into contracts between the government and private firms. In particular, it considers the possibility that conservation restrictions may undermine the goal of fostering competition among private logging firms in timber auctions. Empirically, the policy is costly but is found to be borne primarily by the state without substantial competitive distortions. Importantly, that state can reduce the impact of the policy on revenues by setting reserve prices optimally. The second chapter is joint work with Professor Erich Muehlegger. We use data on Google search activity related to climate change and shocks to local weather to demonstrate that unusual weather increases the salience of climate change as an issue. Further, we find that recent weather shocks have a significant effect on Congressional votes pertaining to environmental regulation. The third chapter makes a methodological contribution to the analysis of auction data. Many auctions have a reserve price, below which the seller simply keeps the object of interest. However, it is typically taken for granted that the object will not be re-auctioned later. Empirical researchers should account for the fact that bidders may respond to this possibility. I present a simple model of repeat auctions, discuss what information can be identified from bidding data, and provide a Monte Carlo simulation of an estimator that addresses this issue. Finally, I examine data on repeat auctions of logging contracts to see whether bidding behavior is consistent with the model. These data could provide a context in which to estimate the model and analyze counterfactual auction policies.PhDEconomicsUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/113433/1/eherrnst_1.pd