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Although property rights have been used to understand numerous wildlife issues, such as extinctions, they have rarely been used to provide insights into specific management options. We present analytical frameworks that may be used to characterize property rights to wildlife for the purpose of understanding the implications of management actions for various stakeholders. The frameworks consider multiple types of values, including consumptive, non-consumptive, and passive-use values. Our case study involves the emergence of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) and its potential influence on the rights of stakeholders (i.e. the general public and hunters) in Alberta, Canada. Populating the framework for each stakeholder with characteristics of current property rights allow us to identify: 1) how the emergence of CWD could influence stakeholders' current rights, 2) how management actions could change property rights and associated incentives; and 3) management options that have not been considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of female-headship to identify vulnerable subgroups and to direct poverty-alleviation policies is a contentious issue. We demonstrate the importance of heterogeneity in household structures for establishing clearer links between female-headship and household income. Using data from Zimbabwe and South Africa, we find that female-headed households, as a whole, do not have lower incomes than male-headed households. Income differentials across female-headed households are significantly related to the amount of adult male presence, and its complementarity with children living in the households. Even after accounting for these sources of observed heterogeneity, we still find significant unexplained heterogeneity across female-headed households. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] We examine unconditional educational returns in India's formal labor markets. [•] We find that primary education benefits women more than men in the middle of the wage distribution. [•] Post primary education benefits women more (less) than men above (below) the median. [•] These unconditional impacts of education on wage distributions are critical for targeting education policies to reduce wage inequality. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Though health benefits to households in developing countries from antiretroviral treatment (ART) programs are widely reported in the literature, specific estimates regarding impacts of treatments on household incomes are rare. This type of information is important to governments and donors, as it is an indication of returns to their ART investments, and to better understand the role of HIV/AIDS in development. The objective of this study is to estimate the impact of a community-based ART program on household incomes in a previously underserved rural region of Uganda. A community-based ART program, based largely on labor contributions from community volunteers, was implemented and evaluated. All households with HIV/AIDS patients enrolled in the treatment programme (n = 134 households) were surveyed five times; once at the beginning of the treatment and every three months thereafter for a period of one year. Data were collected on household income from cash earnings and value of own production. The analysis, using ordinary least squares and quantile regressions, identifies the impact of the ART program on household incomes over the first year of the treatment, while controlling for heterogeneity in household characteristics and temporal changes. As a result of the treatment, health conditions of virtually all patients improved, and household incomes increased by approximately 30% to 40%, regardless of household income quantile. These increases in income, however, varied significantly depending on socio-demographic and socio-economic control variables. Overall, results show large and significant impacts of the ART program on household incomes, suggesting large returns to public investments in ART, and that treating HIV/AIDS is an important precondition for development. Moreover, development programs that invest in human capital and build wealth are important complements that can increase the returns to ART programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper estimates the distribution of educational returns by gender for India. While previous studies focus on mean returns, the variance of educational returns has important implications for policy-making and micro-level decision making with respect to education. If the variance of educational returns is large, it can leave large sections of the population with negative returns; if the variance of educational returns is gender specific, it can influence households’ decisions to educate girls versus boys. Our econometric results provide evidence that India''s labor markets are characterized by significant uncertainty and that the uncertainty is systematically larger for women. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Investigates the impact of American newsprint recycling laws on Canadian waste production and forests. Prospects for the adoption of a similar legislation in Canada; Analysis of both the demand and supply side approaches; Addressing the landfill and forestry issues separately.

We examine public opinion of planting genetically improved poplars on public lands in western Canada. Policy scenarios consider the use of three different breeding methods (traditional selective breeding, genomics-assisted breeding, and genetic modification), each with and without poplars being used for biofuels. We employ a choice experiment to provide alternative outcomes to policy scenarios and to investigate differences among characteristics of respondents. Overall, a majority of respondents voted in favour of policies that allowed improved poplars on public land if the fibre is used to generate biofuels. Adding biofuel production to a policy scenario increases the probability of acceptance by 17%-32%. In contrast, the various types of breeding technology do not matter as much regarding public acceptance. Responses differ among segments of the population, but these differences do not greatly influence choices. Attributes that increase the probability of acceptance are being a male, being from Alberta, and being from a population centre of 10 000-100 000 people (relative to centers that are >100 000 people). Attributes that decrease the probability of acceptance are age, being from British Columbia, and being from a population centre of <10 000 people (relative to centers that are >100 000 people). Despite these significant patterns of preferences, there is substantial uncertainty underlying the responses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A forest-level model is developed that estimates how policies towards hybrid poplar plantations on private and public land impact harvest levels and values for producing biofuel feedstock. We simulate three policy changes: (i) permitting an increase in harvest levels on public land as a result of establishing hybrid poplar plantations on private land; (ii) permitting the establishment of hybrid poplar plantations on public land; and (iii) including forest carbon emission offsets in the net benefits realized by the forest operator. We are interested in whether the increase in harvest created by the policies might be enough to supply a biorefinery, and how the value of the operation changes. Our results suggest that jointly managing public and private lands under sustained yield can increase harvest by between 7% and 93%, and increase the value of the operation by between 39% and 263%. Results also suggest that hybrid poplar plantations could enable a leaseholder of one million hectares of public forestland to initiate an allowable cut effect and thereby increase harvest enough to supply a new biorefinery, in addition to its existing pulp mill. Carbon offsets further increase the value of the forest, although harvest begins to decline at high carbon prices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous studies suggest that management intensity zoning systems, such as the triad approach, could allow Canada's forest industry to maintain or increase timber harvest levels while simultaneously reducing its environmental impact. In most such studies, the zones are exogenously specified. In this study, we use a linear programming model to endogenously allocate forest land to management intensity zones given several alternative policy scenario formulations. We examine how alternative policy scenarios affect the net present value of the optimal forest management plan, timber output, and the spatial allocation of land to management intensity zones. We conclude that policies which facilitate optimal zoning could enable land use specialization to increase both profits and ecological protection. Such zoning, however, can only happen if provincial governments in Canada revise their forest policies with respect to allocation of forest tenures and establishment of exotic plantations on public forest land. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: We discuss the search for optimal stocking regimes in semi-arid grazing lands. We argue that ‘one size does not fit all’ and that different stocking regimes are appropriate under different conditions. This paper is an attempt to move beyond polarization of the current debate towards a more integrative and flexible approach to grazing management. We propose five different conditions as major influences on grazing regimes: environmental variability and predictability; degradation and thresholds; property right regimes; discount rates; and market stability and prices. We suggest a lack of connection between the micro-economics literature and natural science and social-anthropological literature. It is timely to achieve greater integration around some key questions and hypotheses, and recognize that policy prescriptions at national or even regional levels are likely to have limited value due to context specificity. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Provincial governments across Canada rely on regeneration requirements and penalties to promote reforestation following harvesting. However, little has been written on how to determine optimal levels of penalties for noncompliance such that tenure holders have incentives to further social reforestation objectives. This paper shows how reforestation penalties may be calculated in the case of Alberta. The calculation of the penalty is shown to be dependent on (i) changes in the values of future annual allowable cuts caused by failure to promptly regenerate, (ii) the portion of stumpage values collected with stumpage fees, (iii) nontimber values influenced by reforestation, (iv) differences in private and social discount rates, (v) costs of detecting noncompliance, and (vi) the probability of detecting infractions. In the case of Alberta, (v) and (vi) are minor considerations, as detection costs are low and probability of detection is high. However, values of (i) through (iv) have large potential impacts on the optimal penalties. For example, if (i) annual allowable cuts drop by 99 m3 for a 3-year reforestation delay (vs. an acceptable 2-year delay) on a 783-ha forest, (ii) stumpage fees are $10 below stumpage value, (iii) nontimber values are zero, and (iv) the private discount is 9%, while the social rate is 6%, then the optimal penalty is $49.17CAN·ha–1. However, if we change (ii) and (iv) such that stumpage fees are $30CAN below stumpage value and the private discount is 9%, while the social rate is 3%, then the optimal penalty is $168.58CAN·ha–1. With zero nontimber values, zero monitoring costs, no divergence between public and private interest rates at 9%, and a probability of detection of 1.00, the current penalty of $30CAN·ha–1·year–1 would approximate the optimal amount if stumpage fees were $20CAN·m–3. The variability in values of (i) through (iv) across forests and over time suggests that problems will arise in establishing a constant penalty for all provincial forests and that penalties should be revised as values change over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A correction to the article "Public preferences for planting genetically improved poplars on public land for biofuel production in western Canada" that was published in the November 2015 issue is presented.