Factors determining awareness and knowledge of aquatic invasive species

Public perceptions of invasive species may influence policies and programs initiated by public and private stakeholders. We investigate the determinants of the public's awareness and knowledge of invasive species as few studies have examined this relationship. We focus on aquatic invasive species (AIS) and employ survey data from property owners in a lake district. A major contribution is that we estimate a mixed trivariate binary-ordered probit regression model that accommodates correlations among unobserved characteristics, produces statistically more efficient estimates, and allows a more proper investigation of the probability of knowledge conditional on awareness. Our results provide insights for invasive species education and management programs. We find that individuals are more likely to be aware of AIS if they participate in water-based recreation, visit lakes outside their area, have a boat, belong to a lake association, or are college educated. This has a policy implication: Given high levels of AIS awareness by those most involved in activities around lakes and those with a higher education, it may be beneficial to target informational campaigns at those who do not display these characteristics, so that they can better make informed decisions about whether to support and expend money on invasive species management programs.     

An ambient tax approach to invasive species

Invasive species have become an issue of increasing concern in recent years. Invasive species are species that are not native to an area but are imported either intentionally or unintentionally and become established. A primary pathway for introduction is the ballast water of ships. Although not all imported species become invasive, those that do cause extensive damage to ecosystems and have been blamed for the endangerment of numerous native species. In many cases, release of non-native species can be prevented, either through open-ocean ballast water exchange, retention of ballast water, or other biosecurity measures. However, policies designed to encourage such actions face several specific challenges. The difficulty of linking an invasion to a specific vessel and of monitoring individual vessels' care makes using standard environmental liability plans difficult if not impossible. In this paper, we present an alternative policy option, that of an ambient tax. Building on the work of Segerson [Segerson, Kathleen, 1988. Uncertainty and incentives for nonpoint pollution control. Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 15: 87-98.], we show that an ambient tax can ensure socially optimal behavior in both the short-run and the long-run with minimal vessel specific information.     

Galtung meets Daly: A framework for addressing inequity in ecological economics

Since World War II, economic growth has been the leading policy goal in efforts to eradicate poverty. There is strong evidence that this strategy has gone hand in hand with increasing inequity and environmental degradation. We need concepts that will help us understand the inadequacies of the current economic system. We propose drawing from the ideas of sociologist Johan Galtung on social power structures, and those of economist Herman Daly on the physical features of the economy. A fusion of these perspectives creates a novel framework for analysis and a basis to formulate alternatives to the current growth strategy.     

An options based bioeconomic model for biological and chemical control of invasive species

The management of non-native invasive species is a complex but crucial task given the potential for economic and environmental damages. For many invasions the development of socially optimal control strategies requires more than is offered by the single-species, single-control models that have dominated this area of research. We develop a general stochastic optimal control framework that accommodates multiple interacting species while accounting for uncertainty in the temporal population dynamics. This extension to the current line of bioeconomic control models allows for the design of optimal integrated pest management strategies that utilize both chemical and biological controls in an environment of uncertainty and irreversibility. We demonstrate the benefits of combining chemical and biological controls in long term management strategies through a case study of the hemlock wooly adelgid (Adelges tsugae) infestation in the eastern United States. In this application we find that the introduction of natural predators is usually sufficient to manage the infestation, though chemical insecticides can play an important role when detection of the infestation is delayed or when the biological control agent does not sufficiently increase mortality of the invasive species.     

Tariff escalation and invasive species damages

We investigate the interface between trade and damages from invasive species (IS), focusing on escalation in tariffs between raw-input and processed-good markets, and its implication for IS-based damages. The current tariff escalation in processed agro-forestry products motivates our analysis. Tariff escalation exacerbates the likelihood of IS introduction by biasing trade flows towards increased trade of primary commodity flows and against processed-product trade. We show that a reduction of tariff escalation, by lowering the tariff on processed goods increases allocative efficiency and reduces IS-based damages, a win-win situation. We also identify policy menus for trade reforms involving tariffs on both raw input and processed goods leading to win-win situations.     

How trade politics affect invasive species control

Trade has become the main mode of transport for many invasive species, including diseases and agricultural pests. Most species are brought to their new homes unintentionally, which constitutes a market failure rooted in international trade. Unless it is practical to drive invasion risk to zero, the external costs may justify a tariff. In this paper, we analyze the political process likely to govern the formation of tariffs so justified using a straightforward incorporation of an invasive species externality into Grossman and Helpman's (GH) well-known political economy model. We show that our measure of disguised protectionism—the gap between the optimal tariff and that set in the equilibrium of the political economy game—is equal to the tariff that would be set if there were no invasive species and no international disciplines on trade policy. The informational needs required to distinguish disguised protectionism from legitimate public-goods protection are formidable.     

An architectural framework for roadmapping: Towards visual strategy

Since the first application of technology roadmapping in the late 1970s to support integrated product-technology planning, roadmapping concepts and techniques have been widely adopted at product, technology, company, sector and policy levels. The roadmapping approach is flexible and scalable, and can be customized to suit many different strategic and innovation contexts. However, this demands careful planning and design, including consideration of roadmap structure, process and participation.This paper explores the issues of how to design and architect roadmaps and roadmapping processes, which is crucial if the approach is to provide a framework for supporting effective dialogue and communication within and between organizations. The structure of the roadmap, and the process for developing and maintaining the roadmap, should be designed to serve the purpose for which the activity is intended to satisfy, providing a ‘common language and structure' for both development and deployment of strategy.     

An economic framework for forecasting land-use and ecosystem change

This paper develops a joint econometric–simulation framework to forecast detailed empirical distributions of the spatial pattern of land-use and ecosystem change. In-sample and out-of-sample forecasting tests are used to examine the performance of the parcel-scale econometric and simulation models, and the importance of multiple forecasting challenges is assessed. The econometric–simulation method is integrated with an ecological model to generate forecasts of the probability of localized extinctions of an amphibian species. The paper demonstrates the potential of integrating economic and ecological models to generate ecological forecasts in the presence of alternative market conditions and land-use policy constraints.     

A proactive approach for assessing alternative management programs for an invasive alien pollinator species

Most evaluations of the economic impacts of invasive species are done post facto and concentrate on direct production loss caused. However, the effects of invasive species on non-market services such as biodiversity and landscapes can be considerable. A proactive approach of assessing the expected economic impact of invasive species prior to their occurrence may contribute to greater efficiency of policy makers. Here we used a stated preference method for a priori evaluating the willingness of the population to pay for different control programs of a new invasive bee species in Israel, the dwarf honey bee, Apis florea. We evaluated possible economic impacts of A. florea using two model plant species expected to be adversely affected by its invasion due to decreased pollination. The plants have no market value but they add aesthetic value to the open landscape. Using a mixed logit model we found that the mean willingness to pay (WTP) differed between the model plants, and increased with the extent of plant loss. Respondents differentiated between levels of damage to the plants and between control methods in their preferences for a specific program. Our results provide means for informed proactive decision making in preventing the continued invasion of the bee.     

Bang for buck: cost-effective control of invasive species with different life histories

Strategies for controlling invasive species can be aimed at any or all of the stages in the life cycle. In this paper, we show how to combine biological data on population dynamics with simple economic data on control costs options to determine the least costly set of strategies that will prevent an established invader from continuing to increase. Based on biological data alone (elasticities of matrix population models), effective control strategies are sensitive to both life history and rate of population growth. Adding economic considerations, however, can cause the optimal control strategy to shift, unless the costs of intervention are the same across life stages. As an example, we apply our methods to oyster drills (Ocinebrellus inornatus), an economically important aquaculture pest that has been accidentally introduced worldwide. Control efforts are applied to local tidelands through manual removal of adults, although the life history characteristics of the species indicate a low population elasticity for adult survival. Aquaculturists are making bioeconomic decisions to remove adults vs. egg capsules, because of the relative ease of controlling each stage.     

基于公共财政构架下财政支出结构的优化

现阶段我国要建立与市场机制相适应的公共财政，就必须科学界定公共财政支出范围，优化财政支出结构，这样才能提高财政支出效率，降低政府运作成本，减少对竞争性领域的财政投资，强化公益性事业支出，最终实现支出结构的优化调整.     

The importance of bioeconomic feedback in invasive species management

Invasive species can pose significant risks to society. Managing invasive risks cost-effectively would likely benefit from an integrated bioeconomic framework that accounts for the feedback links between the biological and economic systems. Modeling these feedbacks can be challenging relative to the standard “damage function” approach in which the parameters from one system are added to a model of the other, without any feedback. Given time constraints, the open question is whether the effort to capture feedback links is worthwhile and provides more useful information than not integrating. Herein, we use as our foil the case of zebra mussels in a Midwestern Lake. We consider responses from the removal of two forms of feedback: the loop between the firm and the biological system, and a loop between the manager and a firm. Our results suggest accounting for feedbacks can matter—but not in every dimension.     

Spatial economic analysis of early detection and rapid response strategies for an invasive species

Economic impacts from invasive species, conveyed as expected damages to assets from invasion and expected costs of successful prevention and/or removal, may vary significantly across spatially differentiated landscapes. We develop a spatial–dynamic model for optimal early detection and rapid response (EDRR) policies, commonly exploited in the management of potential invaders around the world, and apply it to the case of the Brown treesnake (Boiga irregularis) in Oahu, Hawaii. EDRR consists of search activities beyond the ports of entry, where search (and potentially removal) efforts are targeted toward areas where credible evidence suggests the presence of an invader. EDRR costs are a spatially dependent variable related to the ease or difficulty of searching an area, while damages are assumed to be a population-dependent variable. A myopic strategy in which search only occurs when and where current expected net returns are positive is attractive to managers, and, we find, significantly lowers present value losses (by $270 m over 30 years). We find further that in the tradeoff between search costs and damages avoided, early and aggressive measures that search some high priority areas beyond points of entry even when current costs of search exceed current damages can save the island more ($295 m over 30 years). Extensive or non-targeted search is not advised however.     

Modeling the human-induced spread of an aquatic invasive: The case of the zebra mussel

Ecological evidence indicates that transient recreational boating is the principal overland vector of dispersal for several freshwater invasive species. Understanding boating behavior, and how behavior responds to policy changes, is central to understanding the effectiveness of efforts to halt or slow the spread of aquatic invasives. We develop a framework that combines a recreation demand model of boating behavior with a discrete duration model describing the spatial and temporal spread of an aquatic invasive. The integrated approach allows us to link invasion risk probabilities directly to boating behavior, policy levers, and behavior changes arising from policy shocks. With an application to zebra mussels in Wisconsin we show that explicitly accounting for behavioral responses can dramatically change predictions for the effectiveness of particular policies, in some instances leading to increases in invasions risks at some sites.     

The bioeconomics of tritrophic systems: applications to invasive species

Adapted species in nature are assumed to have solved renewable resource management problems, and this is examined here using a physiologically based model of energy acquisition and allocation. Newly established invasive species are merely in an early phase of this process in their new environment. Analogies between the economies of humans and other species are used to develop an objective function for individual utility of energy allocation. The objective function includes the physiologically based population dynamics models of the consumer and resource species in a food chain as constraints. The model applies to all trophic levels in a food chain including human harvesting of renewable resources (see also Regev et al. (Regev, U., Gutierrez, A.P., Schreiber, S., Zilberman, D., 1998. Biological and Economic Foundation of Renewable Resource Exploitation. Ecological Economics. 26 (3), 227-242.)).Specifically, the analysis:

• (1)Attempts to combine ecological and economic theory;
• (2)Points out the importance of time frame in the two economies (evolutionary vs. market time);
• (3)Examines the effects of expected uncertainty due to environmental hazards in defining energy acquisition and allocation strategies in two invasive aphid species at the extremes of so called r- and K-strategies and the well adapted Central American cotton–cotton bollweevil system;
• (4)Evaluates the effects of changes in behavioral and physiological parameters and environmental degradation on the abundance of resource and consumer species.

     

An analytical framework for retailer price and advertising decisions for products with temperature-sensitive demand

The demand for weather-sensitive products, such as beverages, ice creams, or chocolate varies with changes in temperature. Yet, retailers lack a framework to adapt the marketing mix elements, such as price and advertising, in line with such changes. We provide a theoretical framework to fill this gap by developing an analytical model to derive the optimal marketing mix when product demand depends on temperature. The model prescribes how price and advertising for different demand characteristics should be set following a temperature change. Integrating the temperature element in the marketing mix offers an original profit-enhancing strategy.     

An additively separable representation in the Savage framework

This paper proposes necessary and sufficient conditions for an additively separable representation of preferences in the Savage framework (where the objects of choice are acts: measurable functions from an infinite set of states to a potentially finite set of consequences). A preference relation over acts is represented by the integral over the subset of the product of the state space and the consequence space which corresponds to the act, where this integral is calculated with respect to an evaluation measure on this space. The result requires neither Savage's P3 (monotonicity) nor his P4 (weak comparative probability). Nevertheless, the representation it provides is as useful as Savage's for many economic applications.     

An improved framework for approximating option prices with application to option portfolio hedging

As the price of the underlying asset changes over time, delta of the option changes and a gamma hedge is required along with delta hedge to reduce risk. This paper develops an improved framework to compute delta and gamma values with the average of a range of underlying prices rather than at the conventional fixed ‘one point’. We find that models with time-varying volatility price options satisfactorily, and perform remarkably well in combination with the delta and delta-gamma approximations. Significant improvements are achieved for the GARCH model followed by stochastic volatility models. The new approach can ensure significant improvement in modelling option prices leading to better risk-management decision-making.