Showing 51 - 60 of 80 Items
The (Far) Backstory of the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement
Date: 2013-10-10
Creator: Stephen Meardon
Access: Open access
- In two pairs of episodes, first in 1824 and 1846 and then in 1892 and 1935, similar U.S.-Colombia trade agreements or their enabling laws were embraced first by protectionists and then by free traders. The history of the episodes supports the view that although political institutions exist to curb de facto political power, such power may be wielded to undo the institutions’ intended effects. The doctrinal affinities and interests of political actors are more decisive determinants of the free-trade or protectionist orientation of trade agreements than the agreements’ texts or legal superstructures. The long delay from signing to passage of the current U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement is another case in point.
Estimating the impact of Critical Habitat designation on the values of developed and undeveloped parcels (2nd version, current as of 7/29/2022)
Date: 2022-07-29
Creator: Saleh Mamun, Erik Nelson, Christoph Nolte
Access: Open access
- We use differences-in-differences (DD) estimators to measure the impact that Endangered Species Act (ESA)’s Critical Habitat (CH) rule had on developed and undeveloped parcel prices throughout the US between 2000 and 2019. In a national-level analysis we found that, on average, the price of parcels “treated” with CH were not statistically different than the prices of nearby parcels in listed species range space but not “treated” by CH. CH’s null impact on developed parcel prices is surprising given homeowner’s documented willingness to pay for property surrounded by protected open space. CH’s null impact on undeveloped parcel prices is surprising as previous research had indicated that the impact of CH on undeveloped parcel prices was negative due to the additional regulatory costs and development uncertainty the CH regulation imposes on land developers. When we used relevant subsets of CH areas to measure CH’s impact on parcel prices, we did occasionally find results that were consistent with expectations. We reach two conclusions. First, the impact of the economic impact of the CH rule, holding the impact of other ESA sections constant, cannot be reduced to a simple, consistent narrative. Second, CH’s relatively minor impact on parcel prices suggests that the rule does not have much regulatory “bite.”
Managing small natural features: A synthesis of economic issues and emergent opportunities
Date: 2017-07-01
Creator: Dana Marie Bauer, Kathleen P. Bell, Erik J. Nelson, Aram J.K. Calhoun
Access: Open access
- Small natural features (SNFs), landscape elements that influence species persistence and ecological functioning on a much larger scale than one would expect from their size, can also offer a greater rate of return on conservation investment compared to that of larger natural features or more broad-based conservation. However, their size and perceived lack of significance also makes them more vulnerable to threats and destruction. We examine the management of SNFs and conservation of the associated ecosystem services they generate from an economics perspective. Using the economic concept of market failure, we identify three key themes that explain prevailing threats to SNFs and characterize impediments to and opportunities for SNF management: (1) the degree to which benefits derived from the feature spillover, beyond the feature itself (spatially and temporally); (2) the availability and quality of information about the feature and those who most directly influence its management; and (3) the existence and enforcement of property rights and legal standing of the feature. We argue that the efficacy of alternative SNF management approaches is highly case dependent and relies on four key components: (1) the specific ecosystem services of interest; (2) the amount of redundancy of the SNF on the landscape and the level of connectivity required by the SNF in order to provide ecosystem services; (3) the particular market failures that need correcting and their scope and extent; and (4) the magnitude and distribution of management costs.
Long Day with The Office: An Analysis of College Student Demand for Streaming Video on Netflix Access to this record is restricted to members of the Bowdoin community. Log in here to view.
Date: 2020-01-01
Creator: Summers Askew
Access: Access restricted to the Bowdoin Community
Preparing for and managing change: Climate adaptation for biodiversity and ecosystems
Date: 2013-11-01
Creator: Bruce A. Stein, Amanda Staudt, Molly S. Cross, Natalie S. Dubois, Carolyn, Enquist, Roger Griffis, Lara J. Hansen, Jessica J. Hellmann, Joshua J. Lawler
Access: Open access
- The emerging field of climate-change adaptation has experienced a dramatic increase in attention as the impacts of climate change on biodiversity and ecosystems have become more evident. Preparing for and addressing these changes are now prominent themes in conservation and natural resource policy and practice. Adaptation increasingly is viewed as a way of managing change, rather than just maintaining existing conditions. There is also increasing recognition of the need not only to adjust management strategies in light of climate shifts, but to reassess and, as needed, modify underlying conservation goals. Major advances in the development of climate-adaptation principles, strategies, and planning processes have occurred over the past few years, although implementation of adaptation plans continues to lag. With ecosystems expected to undergo continuing climate-mediated changes for years to come, adaptation can best be thought of as an ongoing process, rather than as a fixed endpoint. © The Ecological Society of America.
Modelling ecosystem services in terrestrial systems
Date: 2010-07-22
Creator: Erik J. Nelson, Gretchen C. Daily
Access: Open access
- Over the past few decades, a multi-disciplinary research community has documented the goods and services provided by ecosystems in specific sites scattered across the world. This research community has now begun to focus on creating methods and tools for mapping and valuing the ecosystem services produced on any landscape in the world. We describe some of these methods and tools and how they calculate and express ecosystem service provision and value on landscapes. We also describe methods for predicting landscape change. These predictions can be used by multi-ecosystem service models to assess potential changes and trade-offs in ecosystem service provision and values into the future. © 2010 Faculty of 1000 Ltd.
Modeling multiple ecosystem services, biodiversity conservation, commodity production, and tradeoffs at landscape scales
Date: 2009-02-01
Creator: Erik Nelson, Guillermo Mendoza, James Regetz, Stephen Polasky, Heather, Tallis, D. Richard Cameron, Kai M.A. Chan, Gretchen C. Daily, Joshua Goldstein
Access: Open access
- Nature provides a wide range of benefits to people. There is increasing consensus about the importance of incorporating these "ecosystem services" into resource management decisions, but quantifying the levels and values of these services has proven difficult. We use a spatially explicit modeling tool, Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs (InVEST), to predict changes in ecosystem services, biodiversity conservation, and commodity production levels. We apply InVEST to stakeholder-defined scenarios of land-use/land-cover change in the Willamette Basin, Oregon. We found that scenarios that received high scores for a variety of ecosystem services also had high scores for biodiversity, suggesting there is little tradeoff between biodiversity conservation and ecosystem services. Scenarios involving more development had higher commodity production values, but lower levels of biodiversity conservation and ecosystem services. However, including payments for carbon sequestration alleviates this tradeoff. Quantifying ecosystem services in a spatially explicit manner, and analyzing tradeoffs between them, can help to make natural resource decisions more effective, efficient, and defensible. © The Ecological Society of America.
On Kindleberger and Hegemony: From Berlin to M.I.T. and Back
Date: 2013-09-29
Creator: Stephen Meardon
Access: Open access
- The most notable idea of Charles P. Kindleberger’s later career is the value of a single country acting as stabilizer of an international economy prone to instability. It runs through his widely read books, The World in Depression, 1929-1939 (1973), Manias, Crises, and Panics (1978), A Financial History of Western Europe (1984), and kindred works. “Hegemonic stability,” the idea is called in the literature it inspired. This essay traces Kindleberger’s attachment to the idea back to his tenure as chief of the State Department’s Division of German and Austrian Economic Affairs from 1945 to 1947 and adviser to the European Recovery Program from 1947 to 1948. In both capacities Kindleberger observed and participated indirectly in the 1948 monetary reform in Western Germany. In the 1990s, during his octogenary decade, he revisited the German monetary reform with a fellow participant, economist, and longtime friend, F. Taylor Ostrander. Their collaborative essay marked Kindleberger’s effort to reclaim hegemonic stability theory from the scholars who developed it following his works of the 1970s and 1980s.
Identifying the Opportunity Cost of Critical Habitat Designation under the U.S. Endangered Species Act
Date: 2014-10-01
Creator: Erik Nelson, John C. Withey, Derric Pennington, Joshua J. Lawler
Access: Open access
- We determine the effect of the US Endangered Species Act’s Critical Habitat designation on land use change from 1992 to 2011. We find that the rate of change in developed land (constructed material) and agricultural land is not significantly affected by Critical Habitat designation. Therefore, Sections 7 and 9 of the Endangered Species Act do not appear to be more heavily applied in lands designated as Critical Habitat areas versus lands within listed species’ ranges, but without critical habitat designation. Further, there does not appear to be any extraordinary conservation activity in critical habitat areas; for example, environmental non-profits and land trusts do not appear to be concentrating activity in these areas. Before we conclude that the opportunity cost of Critical Habitat designation is negligible we need to examine the land management impacts of designation.
US Household Demand for Organic Fruit
Date: 2017-08-31
Creator: Erik Nelson, John M Fitzgerald, Nathan Tefft, John L. Anderson
Access: Open access
- We estimate US household monthly elasticities of demand for some of the more popular organic fruits. To our knowledge, this is the first US-wide, multi-year analysis of price and income elasticities for various organic fruits. We calculate elasticities of demand for low-income, middle class, and rich income bracket households using three estimation techniques: two econometric methods and one machine learning method (least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO)). Demand estimates are based on Nielsen scanner data from approximately 60,000 households collected from 2011 to 2013. Generally, we find that own-price conditional and unconditional elasticities of demand for organic fruits are negative. Unconditional elasticity magnitudes tend to be largest in the representative middle-class household. Income elasticities of demand measurements are inconsistent and often statistically insignificant. This finding is consistent with the survey literature finding that many consumers buy organic food for mostly moral or ethical reasons. We run two policy experiments: a 10% subsidy of organic fruits, and a 10% tax on conventional fruits. Our hypothetical policies engender a stronger reaction among the general public than habitual buyers of organic fruit; unconditional purchase and expenditure elasticities are generally larger than conditional purchase and expenditure elasticities. Finally, we find that elasticities measured with the LASSO technique are not radically different than those measured with econometric methods. The most noticeable difference between the two analytical techniques is that LASSO is more likely to find price and income elasticities of demand that indistinguishable from zero, both substantively and statistically.