Optimal Control of Brucellosis in Bison in the Yellowstone National Park Area

Brucellosis is a highly infectious bacterial disease that causes infected females to abort their calves. It has caused devastating losses to U.S. farmers over the last century. The only known focus of Brucellosis left in the nation is wildlife such as bison and elk in the Greater Yellowstone Area. Vaccination and test-and-slaughter have been applied to brucellosis management in bison, and there has been discussion that a combination of both could potentially eradicate the disease in the Yellowstone National Park. However, there is no study on how to allocate resources between the two actions. This paper investigates the optimal allocation of these two selective management options, in a bioeconomic framework, when there are both existence and recreational values for the wildlife host (bison) and when the host puts the livestock sector at risk.Bioeconomics, brucellosis, disease ecology, epidemiology, optimal control, susceptible-infected-recovered (SIR) model, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

TRADABLE RISK PERMITS TO PREVENT FUTURE INTRODUCTIONS OF ALIEN INVASIVE SPECIES INTO THE GREAT LAKES

Alien invasive species contribute to biodiversity loss and cause billions of dollars of economic damage in the Great Lakes. We examine the design and efficiency of a tradeable permit system for biological pollution due to alien species that invade the Great Lakes through the ballast water of commercial ships.Risk and Uncertainty,

Economic Incentives for Controlling Trade-Related Biological Invasions in the Great Lakes

Ballast water from commercial ships engaged in international trade has been implicated as the primary invasion pathway in over 60 percent of new introductions of invasive alien species (IAS) in the Great Lakes since 1960. Recent policies have recognized that IAS are a form of biological pollution and have become focused on preventing new introductions. Given that emissions-based incentives are infeasible for the case of biological emissions, we investigate the cost-effectiveness of various performance proxy-based and technology-based economic incentives to reduce the threat of new invasions of Ponto-Caspian species in the Great Lakes.aquatic nuisance species, ballast water, uncertainty, risk management, performance-based incentives, environmental subsidies, International Relations/Trade, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

THE ECONOMICS OF MANAGING WILDLIFE DISEASE

The spread of infectious disease among and between wild domesticated animals has become a major problem worldwide. Upon analyzing the dynamics of wildlife growth and infection when the disease animals cannot be identified separately from healthy wildlife prior to the kill, we find that harvest-based strategies alone have no impact on disease transmission. Other controls that directly influence disease transmission and/or mortality are required. Next, we analyze the socially optimal management of infectious wildlife. The model is applied to the problem of bovine tuberculosis among Michigan white-tailed deer, with non-selective harvests and supplemental feeding being the control variables. Using a two-state linear control model, we find a two-dimensional singular path is optimal (as opposed to a more conventional bang-bang solution) as part of a cycle that results in the disease remaining endemic in the wildlife. This result follows from non-selective harvesting and intermittent wildlife productivity gains from supplemental feeding.Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

RESOURCE OR NUISANCE? MANAGING AFRICAN ELEPHANTS AS A MULTI-USE SPECIES

Increasing human interference with natural systems causes us to re-think our perception of wildlife species and the economic choices society makes with regards to their management. Accordingly, we generalize existing 'bioeconomic' models by proposing an economically-based classification of species. The theoretical model is applied to the case of African elephant management. We demonstrate that the classification of the steady state population of a species depends on both species' density and economic factors. Our main results are threefold. First, we demonstrate the classification-dependent possibility of multiple equilibria and perverse comparative statics for multi-use species. Second, upon comparing the optimal stock of a multi-use species to the stock under an open access regime, we find that the ranking in terms of abundance is ambiguous. Finally, and consistent with existing literature on resource management in a second-best world, our case study supports the idea that trade measures have ambiguous effects on wildlife abundance under open access.Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Multi-Market Trading for Cooperative Resource Management: An Application to Water Pollution and Fisheries

Increasingly, environmental problems are recognized to involve linkages across multiple environmental variables (e.g., pollution and a fishery). Prior work on managing these complex, linked systems generally focuses on efficiency rather than implementation. However, implementation is important and will generally involve changing human behaviors within the multiple economic sectors that impact upon the multiple environmental variables. Tradable permit markets are generally seen as a coordinating mechanism, within a particular regulated sector, that enhances efficiency by incentivizing agents to respond to behavioral choices of others within the sector. However, prior work stops short of coordinating behaviors across multiple sectors for cases where society benefits from regulation in both sectors and one sector harms the other. We analyze a multi-sector permit market involving both the externality-generating sector and the affected sector. This multi-sector market provides a mechanism for agents in one sector to respond to environmental behaviors made within the other sector. Moreover, unlike traditional permit markets in which the regulated externality sector incurs only costs, we show that the multi-sector market generates efficiency gains that may be redistributed using appropriate allocations of initial endowments. Accordingly, the multi-sector market may generate gains that benefit both sectors, resulting in a win-win outcome for both sectors. We use a simple example of a polluted fishery to illustrate the approach.Permit trading, fisheries, pollution, Shapley values, bioeconomics, Environmental Economics and Policy, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

THE ECONOMICS OF GREEN PAYMENTS FOR REDUCING AGRICULTURAL NONPOINT SOURCE POLLUTION IN THE CORN BELT

We develop a watershed-based model of green payments to examine how payments applied to different environmental performance measures compare on the basis of economic efficiency, equity, and environmental outcomes. We also explore how targeting in the specification of water quality goals (e.g., TMDLs) affects program performance.Environmental Economics and Policy,

A gravity model approach to forecasting tuberculosis transmission in cattle

Bovine tuberculosis (bTB) in cattle has caused significant economic losses to livestock producers and has proven difficult to eradicate. It is suspected that cattle movement across different farms and regions is one of the key factors of bTB transmission in the United States. Prior attempts to model the epidemiology of bTB infection within cattle to predict disease transmission have not adequately captured the behavioral aspects of trade. A better understanding of livestock trade patterns would help in predicting disease transmission and the associated economic effects. In this paper, we develop a gravity model of livestock trade and link it to an epidemiological model of bTB transmission, with the goal being that this information could lead to improved disease surveillance and management. Our findings suggest that feedbacks between jointly determined disease dynamics and trade system matter and should be considered together for efficient disease management.Bovine tuberculosis, Gravity model, disease management, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Economics of Water Quality Protection from Nonpoint Sources: Theory and Practice

Water quality is a major environmental issue. Pollution from nonpoint sources is the single largest remaining source of water quality impairments in the United States. Agriculture is a major source of several nonpoint-source pollutants, including nutrients, sediment, pesticides, and salts. Agricultural nonpoint pollution reduction policies can be designed to induce producers to change their production practices in ways that improve the environmental and related economic consequences of production. The information necessary to design economically efficient pollution control policies is almost always lacking. Instead, policies can be designed to achieve specific environmental or other similarly related goals at least cost, given transaction costs and any other political, legal, or informational constraints that may exist. This report outlines the economic characteristics of five instruments that can be used to reduce agricultural nonpoint source pollution (economic incentives, standards, education, liability, and research) and discusses empirical research related to the use of these instruments.water quality, nonpoint-source pollution, economic incentives, standards, education, liability, research, Environmental Economics and Policy,

ENVIRONMENTAL RISK AND AGRI-ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY DESIGN

Agricultural nonpoint pollution is inherently stochastic (e.g., due to weather). In theory, this randomness has implications for the choice and design of policy instruments. However, very few empirical studies have modeled natural variability. This paper investigates the importance of stochastic processes for the choice and design of alternative nonpoint instruments. The findings suggest that not explicitly considering the stochastic processes in the analysis can produce significantly biased results.Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy,