Sequential Bargaining with Public Intervention: The Optimal Subsidy Path

Models of sequential bargaining under asymmetric information often exhibit equilibria which are characterised by the fact that agreement is reached only with a delay and that the final (period) solution is ex ante inefficient. The latter means that agreement is not reached though it is efficient (aggregate pay off exceeds aggregate costs). In this paper we analyse how intervention by a third agent in a sequential bargaining process, modelled as a durable goods monopoly, affects the (high path) equilibrium outcome. The effects of intervention crucially depend on how intervention is formulated. When the intervening agent and the seller decides the price and the subsidy (the intervening agent’s contribution) is decided in a Stackelberg game with the intervening agent as the leader the negotiations are always speeded up and equilibrium inefficiency reduced. When the seller acts as a Stackelberg leader the negotiations are only conditionally speeded up and the equilibrium inefficiency only conditionally reduced. For the same values on the reservation prices and discount factor intervention is more likely to take place when the seller acts as a Stackelberg leader. Also, both the seller’s price and the subsidy are higher when the seller acts as a Stackelberg leader compared to if the intervening agent acts as a Stackelberg leader

Willingness to pay for mangrove restoration to reduce the climate change impacts on ecotourism in Rekawa coastal wetland, Sri Lanka

This study investigates tourist preferences and willingness to pay (WTP) for restoration of mangroves to reduce the effects of climate change (CC) on ecotourism at Rekawa coastal wetland, Sri Lanka, using a double bounded discrete choice elicitation format in a contingent valuation method. The survey also included socio-economic, demographic, and attitudinal characteristics of respondents. The results reveal that domestic and foreign tourists on average were willing to pay 2.65 USD and 11.4 USD per person, respectively, for mangrove restoration in Rekawa wetland. Among socio-demographic variables, education, age, and occupation had a significant effect on WTP. Furthermore, we show that foreign respondents with greater trust in the role of mangroves in mitigating the impacts of CC on sea turtles, and domestic tourists who believed effects of mangrove restoration in reducing the future vulnerability of urban expansion, were willing to pay more for the proposed mangrove restoration fund. Based on tourists’ preferences and WTP for mangrove protection, our results support the establishment of an environmental protection fund from the collection of tourists’ entrance fees using a dual pricing strategy, and the use of the funds for planting mangroves, patrolling mangrove areas to prevent illegal activities, and promoting nature-based tourism activities

The 2012 Revision of the Common Fisheries Policy (Cfp): Consequences of Ecosystem Based Management and increased Ngo Influence

Abstract only.Keywords: Modeling and Economic Theory, Fisheries Modeling, Fisheries Economic

Trading Off Co-produced Marine Ecosystem Services: Natural Resource Industries Versus Other Use and Non-use Ecosystem Service Values

Ecosystem services (ESs) may be both non-market and market based. Both may provide important input to societal welfare. Using natural resources, or converting nature in the development of market based ES may impact the access to non-market or more conservationist ES, and vice versa. How does the general public trade-off between these two types of ES? We use two valuation studies in Northern Norway to identify the public’s preferences for marine industries versus other marine use and non-use values. One study assesses willingness to pay to protect cold-water corals, a relatively abundant, and to some degree, protected resource off the coast of Norway. The other study elicits people’s willingness to pay for stricter regulations of industrial activity in the coastal zone, providing more coastal area for recreational activities. Both studies show strong conservation preferences, and willingness to forego blue industrial growth. However, these preferences are heterogeneous across socio-economic characteristics, and, interestingly, educational level is the characteristic that most distinctly separates the population into various preference groups

People do care about the deep sea. A comment on Jamieson et al. (2020)

In a paper in this journal entitled “Fear and loathing of the deep sea: why don’t people care about the deep sea?”, Jamieson et al. (2020) pose this question and answer it with many interesting perspectives from psychology, ocean literacy and philosophy. However, there is an inherent assumption in the question they ask that people do not care about the deep sea. In order to assess this assumption, we contend that the first question to ask is: do people care about the deep sea? Based on the cultural significance of the theme of the deep ocean in art and literature, the results of ocean attitudinal surveys and the work done on deep sea economic valuation in recent years, we suggest that the answer is that people do care about many different aspects of the deep sea, not only the ones that hold market value, but also non-market values. It is nonetheless argued that the welfare benefits that societies gain from the deep sea are not at the fore in political discussions or marine policy making

Informing Management Strategies for a Reserve: Results from Valuation Surveys

A marine protected area (MPA) is a management tool used for biodiversity conservation and sustainable fisheries development, but it is less used for non-extractive uses of ecosystems such as eco-tourism. We estimate the willingness-to-pay for improved environmental qualities of the Nha Trang Bay MPA on one hand and employment effects on the other among a convenience sample of Vietnamese national tourists. Using a mixed logit model with correlations, we find that tourists are willing to pay for environmental quality improvements, but are ambiguous towards reducing the number of fishermen operating within the bounds of the MPA. This is important information for managers and policy makers in order to maintain tourism benefits and conserve marine biodiversity, but also with respect to how to secure income opportunities for the local fishermen.Proceedings of the Eighteenth Biennial Conference of the International Institute of Fisheries Economics and Trade, held July 11-15, 2016 at Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Center (AECC), Aberdeen, Scotland, UK

Use and non-use values in an applied bioeconomic model of fisheries and habitat connections

In addition to indirect support to fisheries, marine habitats also provide non-use benefits often overlooked in most bioeconomic models. We expand a dynamic bioeconomic fisheries model where presence of natural habitats reduces fishing cost via aggregation effects and provides non-use benefits. The theoretical model is illustrated with an application to cold-water corals in Norway where two fishing methods are considered—destructive bottom trawl and non-destructive coastal gear. Non-use values of cold-water corals in Norway are estimated using a discrete choice experiment. Both the theoretical model and its empirical applications demonstrate how non-use values impact optimal fishing practices

SEDP-2014-04

This paper compares how increases in experience versus increases in knowledge about a public good affect willingness to pay (WTP) for its provision. This is challenging because while consumers are often certain about their previous experiences with a good, they may be uncertain about the accuracy of their knowledge. We therefore design and conduct a field experiment in which treated subjects receive a precise and objective signal regarding their knowledge about a public good before estimating their WTP for it. Using data for two different public goods, we show qualitative equivalence of the effect of knowledge and experience on valuation for a public good. Surprisingly, though, we find that the causal effect of objective signals about the accuracy of a subject's knowledge for a public good can dramatically affect their valuation for it: treatment causes an increase of $150-$200 in WTP for well-informed individuals. We find no such effect for less informed subjects. Our results imply that WTP estimates for public goods are not only a function of true information states of the respondents but beliefs about those information states

Willingness to pay to protect cold water corals

There is increasing pressure to use currently untapped resources in the deep sea, raising questions regarding ecosystem service trade‐offs in these often unknown areas. We assessed the trade‐offs between protection of cold‐water coral reefs and economic activities, such as fisheries and petroleum extraction, through a survey of a representative sample of the populations of Norway and Ireland. Choice‐experiment surveys were conducted in workshop settings and through the internet. Both survey approaches provided some similar results, such as preferences for protection. Our cross‐country comparison showed the general public in Norway and Ireland was willing, despite possible conflict with extractive and consumptive economic activities in the deep sea, to protect cold‐water corals as habitat for fish. On average, people were willing to pay NKr 341 and NKr 424 for a small and large increase in protected areas respectively, and NKr 880 if the area is important habitat for fish, all else held equal. However, there was large variation across individuals and countries. Norwegian respondents valued pure existence of cold‐water corals more than the Irish respondents, and the latter were less willing to trade off industrial activities than the former. Nonetheless, the findings support conservation of cold‐water corals and more generally of ocean environments that provide habitat for fish, which the current deep sea governance systems are not adequately designed or sufficiently well‐structured to secure

Non-use Values in Natural Resource Management – A Bioeconomic Model of Fisheries and Habitat

As fisheries management becomes more collaborative by seeking input and involvement from stakeholders, it is important to understand and address the diversity of those stakeholders. Gulf Coast fisheries communities include diverse racial and ethnic groups, particularly a large number of Vietnamese Americans involved in all aspects of the seafood industry. Recent disasters, including hurricanes and the BP Macondo oil spill, have exposed a number of communication barriers between state and federal agencies and the Vietnamese American fishing community on the Gulf Coast as well as a lack of reliable socioeconomic data on Vietnamese American fishers and their management and governance priorities. This research focuses on a mixed methods approach to create a database of key baseline socioeconomic data on the Vietnamese American communities affected by fishery management in Mississippi and Alabama and as well as to identify avenues and barriers for communication between Vietnamese American fishers and state and federal fisheries-related agencies in the region. In doing so, we discuss using a combination of 1) face-to-face surveys with Vietnamese Americans in the fishing industry, 2) interviews with representatives of relevant state and federal agencies, 3) interviews with community organizations and key informants, and 4) focus groups with Vietnamese Americans in different aspects of the fishing industry. Collection of this type of data will be used in identifying potential strategies to improve engagement of Vietnamese American stakeholders in the region and be crucial to understand the current and future consequences of management choices for diverse stakeholders.Keywords: Bioeconomic Modeling and Fisheries Management, Fisheries Economics, Ecosystem Based Managemen