A Spatial Look at Negative Externalities in Agricultural Landscapes: Seedless Mandarins and Honey Bee Pollination in California

When honey bees transport pollen across citrus orchards they can increase the number of seeds in varieties that remain seedless otherwise. An increase in seeds diminishes the market value of the fruit creating an externality between seedless growers and beekeepers. This paper investigates the efficiency of different policy resolution of this externality including a range of regulated spatial segregations of beekeeping and seedless farming with or without financial compensations. We develop a spatial model of honey foraging behavior to quantify the efficiencies and redistributions of different policies that may be used to correct this market failure. Some of these policies have been implemented others are being currently discussed in policy debates in the California citrus belt. This paper illustrates that quantifying biophysical processes that create externalities is a necessary step towards evaluating the economics efficiency of alternative solutions.Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

A Spatial Look at Negative Externalities in Agricultural Landscapes: Seedless Mandarins and Honey Bee Pollination in California

When honey bees transport pollen across citrus orchards they can increase the number of seeds in varieties that remain seedless otherwise. An increase in seeds diminishes the market value of the fruit creating an externality between seedless growers and beekeepers. This paper investigates the efficiency of different policy resolution of this externality including a range of regulated spatial segregations of beekeeping and seedless farming with or without financial compensations. We develop a spatial model of honey foraging behavior to quantify the efficiencies and redistributions of different policies that may be used to correct this market failure. Some of these policies have been implemented others are being currently discussed in policy debates in the California citrus belt. This paper illustrates that quantifying biophysical processes that create externalities is a necessary step towards evaluating the economics efficiency of alternative solutions

Common ragweed invasion in Sweden: impacts of the lag phase on human health

Common ragweed (Ambrosia artemisiifolia) is a neophyte from North America that has spread rapidly throughout Europe. Because the pollen of common ragweed is highly allergic, many countries have adopted containment and mitigation measures. The neophyte has only recently established flowering populations in Sweden. We use this well documented case to study the early impacts of an invasive species on human health. Our identification strategy relies on spatial and temporal variation in common ragweed populations and health data for 1998-2011, applying panel-data estimation techniques. To ensure the robustness of our findings, we test and correct for heteroskedasticity and autocorrelation. Our estimates show that an invasive species still in its lag phase can yet have adverse impacts on human health