BIO-ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF FLOODPLAINS: FARMING VERSUS FISHING IN BANGLADESH

This paper explores the linkages of environment and economic development in the floodplain of large rivers. There is considerable evidence that even the most vital floodplains in the world are not being managed efficiently and both economic and ecological factors need to be considered for effective management. Floodplain management policies in Bangladesh emphasize structural changes to enhance agricultural production. However, these structural changes reduce fisheries production, where the fishery is an important natural resource sector and a source of subsistence for the rural poor. We develop a model where net returns to agriculture and fisheries are jointly maximized taking into account the effect of flooding depth and timing on production. Results for a region in Bangladesh show that optimal production in a natural floodplain yields higher net returns compared to a floodplain modified by flood control structures. This finding has important implications for management policies -- neglecting the bio-economic relationship between fisheries and land use may significantly affect the long-run economic role of a river floodplain, particularly in a poor country.Community/Rural/Urban Development,

Policies for soil conservation in New Zealand: options for government

This publication comprises part of a research project commissioned by the Ministry for the Environment as part of the 1989/90 Environmental Research Agenda. The research has the objective of identifying and evaluating new options that will align and make explicit costs and benefits of land management practice. The present monograph highlights government policy options. A companion report has been produced by the Centre for Resource Management: Policies for soil conservation in New Zealand: the institutional setting, by Peter Ackroyd. The opportunity to prepare this publication was afforded by a grant from the New Zealand-United States Educational Foundation under the Fulbright Scholars' programme. This grant enabled the author to spend six months at the Centre for Resource Management learning about land management issues in New Zealand during 1990. A report was submitted to the Ministry for the Environment and to reviewers for their consideration. On returning to the United States, comments were incorporated and this publication compiled

Consolidation as a Regulatory Compliance Strategy: Small Drinking Water Systems and the Safe Drinking Water Act

Despite extensive research and policy initiatives to increase the technical, financial, and managerial capacity of small drinking water systems, there has been little research focusing on understanding how consolidation can increase the overall capacity of the drinking water industry. Consolidation of water systems may be a mechanism that increases regulatory compliance by removing poorly performing systems from the industry and replacing inefficient management and/or capital. The US drinking water system is highly fragmented, with over 50,000 Community Water Systems (CWSs), of which the vast majority are classified as "small" by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). A discrete choice model is employed to determine the characteristics shared by small water systems that are acquired. On average, these acquired firms are small, have frequent drinking water violations, are privately-owned, and purchase their water from another system. These results suggest that consolidation may have an important role to play in increasing overall industry compliance with the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA).Community Water System, Drinking Water, Merger, Consolidation, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, Q25, Q53,

Optimal Taxation of Externalities Interacting through Markets: A Theoretical General Equilibrium Analysis

This study develops a theoretical general equilibrium model to examine optimal externality tax policy in the presence of externalities linked to one another through markets rather than technical production relationships. Analytical results reveal that the second-best externality tax rate may be greater or less than the first-best rate, depending largely on the elasticity of substitution between the two externality-generating products. These results are explored empirically for the case of greenhouse gas from fossil fuel and nitrogen emissions associated with biofuels.second-best tax, multiple externalities, biofuel, GHG emissions, nitrogen leaching

STOCHASTIC TECHNOLOGY, RISK PREFERENCES, AND THE USE OF POLLUTING INPUTS

We investigate the comparative static effects of environmental and agricultural policies on pesticide and fertilizer use. Since such effects depend on technology and risk preference parameters, we estimate these from a panel data set of Illinois farms. Generalized method of moments is used on a set of nonlinear first order conditions.Environmental Economics and Policy,

FLOOD EASEMENTS

We examine the efficiency of current flood risk allocation and the use of flood easements as a means of reallocating flood risk and reducing total flood damages in large river floodplains. Changes in agricultural floodplain land use and levels of crop insurance coverage as the risk of flooding changes are simulated using mathematical programming. The net benefits of flood easements to a portion of the Lagrange Reach of the Illinois River region are then simulated. Our results indicate that flood easements may provide positive net benefits. This positive result stems primarily from the decreased risk of flooding for non-inundated agricultural levee districts, rather than from reduced municipal flood damages. Our results are robust to changes in the estimated dollar damages, yet extremely sensitive to changes in hydrological estimates.Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Improvement of lake water quality by paying farmers to abate nonpoint source pollution

To mitigate damages caused by agricultural runoff, private lake owners' associations are paying for inlake and instream pollution abatement measures and onland conservation practices. This phenomenon supports the notion that individuals who benefit from improved water quality should be willing to pay part of the abatement costs. Our research suggests that onland conservation measures can substantially reduce sediment delivery at low cost. The Sediment Economics (SEDEC) model was modified and then used to select and to site management systems that achieved stated sediment goals at least cost. Other resource policies such as T value, no-till, and contouring were compared with the least-cost frontier and shown to be more costly. Abatement costs decreased substantially and sediment delivery increased only slightly when the same resource policies were applied to cropland areas closest to water channels. The research also pointed out the importance of noncropland areas adjacent to water channels. The noncropland areas substantially reduced sediment delivery to water channels and lowered abatement costs. Further research is needed for long-range watershed planning models such as SEDEC. More work is needed on the modelling of physical processes, particularly sediment delivery. The model also needs to be repackaged into a user-friendly format.U.S. Department of the Interior || U.S. Geological SurveyU.S. Geological SurveyOpe