Letter from Thomas MacDonald to Senator Langer Regarding Road from Lost Bridge to Dickenson, May 23, 1951

This letter dated May 23, 1951, from Commissioner of United States (US) Department of Public Roads to US Senator William Langer, refers to a letter and clipping Langer received, and forwarded to MacDonald, from Dr. D. B. Ditzlaugh, Chairperson of Roads for the town of Killdeer, North Dakota (ND). In Ditzlaugh\u27s letter, Ditzlaugh asks for assistance in getting a road built from the Lost Bridge to Dickenson, ND. In MacDonald\u27s reply, he explains that while one section of the proposed road is included in the federal system plan approved for ND, the state has not included any work in this road in its own plans. Another section of this road is not included in the federal plan. MacDonald urges that Ditzlaugh and other interested parties contact the ND State Highway Department regarding the proposed highway. See also: Telegram from D. B. Ditzlaugh to Senator Langer Regarding Road From Lost Bridge to Dickinson, May 9, 1951 Letter from H. Tobias to Senator Langer Regarding Road to Lost Bridge, May 23, 1951https://commons.und.edu/langer-papers/1775/thumbnail.jp

Insurance loss coverage and social welfare

Restrictions on insurance risk classification may induce adverse selection, which is usually perceived as a bad outcome, both for insurers and for society. However, a social benefit of modest adverse selection is that it can lead to an increase in `loss coverage', defined as expected losses compensated by insurance for the whole population. We reconcile the concept of loss coverage to a utilitarian concept of social welfare commonly found in economic literature on risk classification. For iso-elastic insurance demand, ranking risk classification schemes by (observable) loss coverage always gives the same ordering as ranking by (unobservable) social welfare

Letter from Thomas H. MacDonald to Senator Langer Regarding Federal Funding for Road Construction, December 16, 1952

This letter, dated December 16, 1952, from United States (US) Commissioner of Public Roads Thomas H. MacDonald to US Senator William Langer, is a reply to Langer\u27s letter of December 10, in which Langer enclosed a copy of a resolution prepared by the McKenzie Country, ND Board of Commissioners, in which the Commissioners asked that a proposed road connecting the Fort Berthold Reservation to Highway no. 23 be constructed at federal expense. In MacDonalds reply, he explains that a four-mile portion of the proposed road is in the Federal-aid highway system approved for North Dakota, but the state has not requested funding for it, and the remaining three miles are not included in the Federal-aid system, and thus not eligible for federal funding. See also: Letter from Senator Langer to Thomas H. MacDonald Regarding Federal Funding for Road Construction, December 10, 1952https://commons.und.edu/langer-papers/1785/thumbnail.jp

The financial costs of environmental compliance through reducing nitrate leaching for a range of Waikato dairy farm system intensities

The New Zealand dairy industry has grown significantly over the past decade through increasing both area farmed and the number of cows milked. Dairy farm systems have intensified as a result of the use of supplementary feeding, increased stocking rate and land use changes. Environmental regulations have been implemented as a means to limit and mitigate the negative environmental impacts of dairy under the National Policy Statement for Fresh Water. In the Waikato, regulation to date has predominatly been focused on effluent storage and application. As such, regulation has not yet shaped how Waikato farm systems are implemented. It is likely that future regulation for the Waikato will include nitrogen loss limits. Management of nutrient cycles will therefore become a high priority for effective farm management as well as being used to inform the adoption of changes to farming systems. Four nitrogen (N) loss mitigation strategies were modelled for Waikato dairy farm systems of low, medium and high input to show the changes in N leaching and economic farm surplus per hectare. Reductions in N leaching for farm environmental compliance were able to be achieved through farm management practices as well as through additional farm infrastructure. Large reductions of 20 percent and 17 percent were achieved through destocking and cow housing scenarios respectively. A corresponding lift in farm surplus per hectare of 1 percent and 11 percent was recorded. Similarly, moderate reductions in N leaching were achieved through winter grazing off farm (9 percent) and increased effluent management facilities (8 percent). However a 4 percent reduction in farm surplus was noted for the winter grazing scenario while increasing the effluent area had no material impact on farm working expenses or revenue. This research identified cow housing as farm infrastructure which for low, medium and high input farm systems was able to return a reduction in N leaching greater than 15 percent and increase farm surplus by greater than 9 percent. The implementation of cow housing was modelled for a large scale farm system in the Taharua catchment where N limits are currently being enforced. Results of the modelling show a cow housing facility for large scale dairy farming has a positive internal rate of return of 13 percent. Waikato dairy farmers were surveyed to gather data on the initial capital cost of compliance and the farm system implications of increased regulation to date. The survey illustrated that effluent compliance has been the focus of investment and highlights the significant cost to the dairy industry of internalising environmental impacts. Aggregated survey results indicate that the capital cost of environmental spending to date for the average Waikato farm system has totaled $1.02 per kgMS,$1487 per hectare or $404 per cow. This equates to an average investment of$110,000 per farm. A clear understanding of the impact of environmental regulation and the relative cost of compliance for different farm systems is needed to produce accurate measures of environmental performance and to improve the cost efficiency of dairy production systems. Importantly there is a need to understand how different farming systems can work together at a catchment, regional and national level to achieve both value creation and environmental sustainability as set out in the national policy frameworks

Between norms, politics contests and social upheavals: justice in the JSRP’s research sites

In this blog, Tom Kirk and Anna Macdonald explore the JSRP’s research on local justice mechanisms in conflict-affected states. They argue that the accessibility and legitimacy of justice institutions cannot be assumed, and that those wishing to engage them must understand them as embedded in wider social norms, political contests and upheavals

Insurance loss coverage under restricted risk classification: The case of iso-elastic demand

This paper investigates equilibrium in an insurance market where risk classification is restricted. Insurance demand is characterised by an iso-elastic function with a single elasticity parameter. We characterise the equilibrium by three quantities: equilibrium premium; level of adverse selection (in the economist’s sense); and “loss coverage”, defined as the expected population losses compensated by insurance. We consider both equal elasticities for high and low risk-groups, and then different elasticities. In the equal elasticities case, adverse selection is always higher under pooling than under risk-differentiated premiums, while loss coverage first increases and then decreases with demand elasticity. We argue that loss coverage represents the efficacy of insurance for the whole population; and therefore that if demand elasticity is sufficiently low, adverse selection is not always a bad thing

The Breeding Distribution and Current Population Status of the Ivory Gull in Canada

Aerial surveys were conducted in the eastern Canadian High Arctic from 1982 to 1985 to determine the distribution and size of breeding populations of the ivory gull (Pagophila eburnea). The known Canadian population is confined to Ellesmere, Devon, Seymour, Baffin and Perley islands. Two major concentrations of ivory gull colonies exist, one among the granitic nunataks of southeastern Ellesmere Island and the other on the sedimentary plateaus of the Brodeur Peninsula of Baffin Island. The size of breeding groups varies greatly from 4 to over 300 adult gulls. Breeding colonies are typified by their inland, remote and desolate locations and virtual absence of other animal species. We suggest that there is a single Canadian population of ivory gulls whose adult cohort contains over 2400 birds. The small number of leg band recoveries and retrapping of banded birds indicates that individuals can live at least 15 years. One-year-old ivory gulls were not seen at the colonies or on adjacent waters, and their location during summer remains unknown.Key words: ivory gull, Pagophila eburnea, arctic breeding populations, nunataks, polynyas On a effectué des relevés aériens dans la partie est de l'Extrême-Arctique canadien de 1982 à 1985 pour établir la distribution et la taille des populations de mouettes blanches (Pagophila eburnea) qui se reproduisent. La population canadienne que l'on connaît habite seulement les îles Ellesmere, Devon, Seymour, Baffin et Perley. Il y a deux endroits importants où se concentrent les colonies de mouettes blanches, l'une parmi les nunataks granitiques du sud-est de l'île Ellesmere, et l'autre sur les plateaux sédimentaires de la presqu'île Brodeur dans l'île Baffin. La taille des groupes qui se reproduisent varie grandement, allant de 4 à plus de 300 oiseaux adultes. Les colonies d'animaux qui se reproduisent sont caractérisées par leur aire de nidification isolée, loin à l'intérieur des terres, et par l'absence virtuelle d'autres espèces animales. Notre opinion est qu'il existe une seule population canadienne de mouettes blanches, dont l'ensemble des adultes compte plus de 2400 oiseaux. Le petit nombre de bagues récupérées et d'oiseaux bagués avoisinantes, et l'endroit où elles se tiennent reste inconnu. Mots clés : mouette blanche, Pagophila eburnea, populations qui se reproduisent dans l'Arctique, nunataks, polynie