Pests and Agricultural Production under Climate Change

Although the effect of climate change on agricultural pests has been studied by biologists, thus far, large-scale assessments of climate change and agriculture have not included the impact of pests. We develop a simple theoretical model of farmer-pest interaction under climate change and explore the potential impacts on land values.Environmental Economics and Policy,

Invasive Species Management: Importers, Border Enforcement, and Risk

Invasive species are a negative externality associated with imported goods. Policies aimed at excluding pests associated with imports include pre-shipment treatment requirements, varied inspection schemes, treatment at the border, penalties, and import bans or restrictions. Existing policies are based on the reasoning that increased enforcement effort will result in higher detection levels, or more specifically, that increased inspection will result in a higher number of interceptions and in turn, higher compliance. In addition to a deterrence effect, however, under which importers respond to increased enforcement with increased due care with respect to pest control, importers may respond in ways that regulators do not intend. For example, importers may choose to not bring goods into the country, may ship a reduced amount, or may switch ports-of-entry. Moreover, different types of firms are likely to respond to enforcement in different ways. In this paper, we present a framework to analyze invasive species border enforcement given heterogeneous importers and ports. We develop a theoretical model of firm response to border enforcement, analyze both the intended and unintended effects of this enforcement for different types of firms, and evaluate the tradeoffs associated with location. Firms not only consider the changes in the levels of enforcement and other conditions at a single port, they consider the cost and benefit tradeoffs associated with location e.g., differences in inspection intensity or port-entry fees versus distance to port-of-entry and final market across ports and may switch ports. The result is that increased inspection intensity may not result the overall damages from invasive species introductions.Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Disposition, History and Contributions in Public Goods Experiments

Private incentives to invest in a public good are modeled as self- interested reciprocity where individuals use reputational scoring rules to determine their optimal level of investment. The model predicts that the disposition of any subject to cooperate is revealed by their first period investment in a voluntary contribution experiment, and that grouping cooperative subjects together will improve, and in some circumstances sustain, their private investment in the public good. Actual investment behavior is then studied with laboratory experiments that compare the contributions of subjects randomly reassigned into groups to contributions under a mechanism that sorts subjects into groups based on their individual investment decisions. The sorting mechanism helps to keep subjects with cooperative dispositions together and leads to statistically significant increases, relative to the random matching condition, in cooperators’ investments in the public good.public goods, experiments, cooperation, type classification, individual differences

Public-private partnerships needed in horticultural research and development

University-industry partnerships are proliferating in the United States, as public funding for high-level research continues to decline yet knowledge plays an increasingly important role in industrial processes. The horticulture industry benefits from such arrangements by influencing research directions and gaining access to innovations and complementary research in agri-cultural biotechnology. Given the nature of this industry, the obstacles to developing effective partnerships are substantial. Private horticulture institutions should form consortia of both small- and medium-sized firms, and they should understand the need for faculty and academic freedom. More enterprising members of a consortium can capitalize on the research contacts and pursue firm-specific, applied-research partnerships. Potential drawbacks are the exclusion of smaller firms and inequitable benefits-sharing within the consortia

Pests and Agricultural Production under Climate Change

Although the effect of climate change on agricultural pests has been studied by biologists, thus far, large-scale assessments of climate change and agriculture have not included the impact of pests. We develop a simple theoretical model of farmer-pest interaction under climate change and explore the potential impacts on land values

The impact of agricultural biotechnology on yields, risks, and biodiversity in low-income countries

This paper shows that the current generation of transgenic crop varieties has significant potential to improve economic welfare in low-income countries. These varieties might increase crop yields in low-income countries in cases when pesticides have not been used. They will reduce negative health effects of chemicals when they replace them. With low transaction costs, appropriate infrastructure, and access to intellectual property, multiple varieties of transgenics will be introduced. The gain from transgenics will be reduced, and crop biodiversity may be lost when only a small set of varieties is transgenetically modified. The adoption of transgenics will also be affected by risk and credit considerations.

Border Enforcement and Firm Response in the Management of Invasive Species

This analysis presents a theoretical model of firm response to border enforcement and evaluates both the intended and unintended effects under two enforcement regimes: destruction versus treatment of contaminated shipments. The results indicate that importers may respond to increased inspection by reducing shipments and decreasing due care. In response to increased pest populations, firms may reduce shipments and increase due care, indicating that an enforcement response may not be necessary. The analysis reveals the importance of the nature of the due-care technology, as well as the relationships underlying the probability of detection, in determining the effects of enforcement