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We project how human population change (2018 to 2046) and aquatic invasive species (AIS) establishment events of bigheaded carps (Hypophthalmichthys spp.) and grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella) might combine to affect future Canadian recreational fishing activity for the Laurentian Great Lakes. Human population change is expected to affect the total number of fishing trips (increase of about 143 000 trips or 11.4%) more than any of the AIS establishment events (maximum decrease of about 44 000 trips or 3.5%). The projected 11.4% increase to the number of fishing trips from human population change, however, lags the 38% projected increase to Ontario, Canada's population from 2018 to 2046. Increasing urbanization and an aging population, which are associated with reduced rates of fishing participation, were responsible for this difference. The combined effects of human population change and AIS establishment illustrate the importance of accounting for human population change as it reverses the conclusions and results in a projected net increase of between 92 000 and 125 000 in the number of fishing trips. The combined model also identifies potential growth areas for fishing such as shore fishing by urbanites on the western portion of Lake Ontario. Nous faisons des projections sur les effets de la combinaison de l'evolution de la population humaine (de 2018 a 2046) et des cas d'etablissement d'espece aquatique envahissante (EAE) de carpes a grosse tete (Hypophthalmichthys spp.) et d'amours blancs (Ctenopharyngodon idella) sur l'activite de peche sportive canadienne pour les Grands Lacs laurentiens. Il est predit que l'evolution de la population humaine aura une plus grande incidence sur le nombre total d'excursions de peche (augmentation d'environ 143 000 excursions ou 11,4 %) que n'importe quel etablissement d'EAE (diminution maximum d'environ 44 000 excursions ou 3,5 %). Cependant, l'augmentation projetee de 11,4 % du nombre d'excursions de peche decoulant de l'evolution de la population humaine ne suit pas l'augmentation projetee de 38 % de la population de l'Ontario (Canada) de 2018 a 2046. L'urbanisation accrue et le vieillissement de la population, qui sont associes a des baisses des taux de participation a la peche, expliquent cet ecart. Les effets combines de l'evolution de la population humaine et de l'etablissement d'EAE illustrent l'importance de tenir compte de l'evolution de la population humaine, puisqu'elle inverse les conclusions et se traduit en une augmentation nette projetee de l'ordre de 92 000 a 125 000 du nombre d'excursions de peche. Le modele combine permet aussi de cerner des secteurs de croissance potentielle de la peche, comme la peche a terre par des citadins dans la partie ouest du lac Ontario. [Traduit par la Redaction], Introduction Recreational fisheries are defined and influenced by aquatic resources and people. While researchers frequently examine how changes to aquatic resources affect outcomes for recreational fisheries, much less attention is [...]

This article introduces a special issue of Land Economics and the Journal of Housing Economics focused on property value analysis using Zillow's ZTRAX data. ZTRAX is a real estate database with over 400 million public records spanning 30 years, which has been used for research on various topics such as disaster risks, natural resources, and land uses. The article discusses the availability of the ZTRAX database to qualified researchers and the significant impact it has had on research in environmental, housing, and related fields. It also mentions that Zillow has announced the discontinuation of the ZTRAX access program, leading to the motivation for this special issue. The article highlights the value of access to a comprehensive database and the importance of finding substitutes for maintaining productive research agendas. The article concludes by expressing gratitude to the people involved in creating the special issues and the potential of the information and methods used in the research to enhance Zillow's valuation models and housing metrics. The rest of the article provides a summary of the articles included in the special issue of Land Economics, which cover topics such as the property value impacts of wildfires, toxic pollution, water quality, flood hazards, and land use impacts. The final article provides best practices for using nationwide property value data in valuing environmental amenities and hazards. [Extracted from the article]

Scientific knowledge related to quantifying the monetized benefits for landscape-wide water quality improvements does not meet current regulatory and benefit-cost analysis needs in the United States. In this study we addressed this knowledge gap by incorporating the Biological Condition Gradient (BCG) as a water quality metric into a stated preference survey capable of estimating the total economic value (use and nonuse) for aquatic ecosystem improvements. The BCG is grounded in ecological principles and generalizable and transferable across space. Moreover, as the BCG translates available data on biological condition into a score on a 6-point scale, it provides a simple metric that can be readily communicated to the public. We applied our BCG-based survey instrument to households across the Upper Mississippi, Ohio, and Tennessee river basins and report values for a range of potential improvements that vary by location, spatial scale, and the scope of the water quality change. We found that people are willing to pay twice as much for an improvement policy that targets their home watershed (defined as a four-digit hydrologic unit) versus a more distant one. We also found that extending the spatial scale of a local policy beyond the home watershed does not generate additional benefits to the household. Finally, our results suggest that nonuse sources of value (e.g., bequest value, intrinsic aesthetic value) are an important component of overall benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jeem.2010.05.002 Byline: H. Allen Klaiber (a), Daniel J. Phaneuf (b) Keywords: Tiebout sorting; Open space; Locational equilibrium; General equilibrium; Housing demand Abstract: We present an analysis of how open space amenities affect residential location choices using a horizontal sorting model to estimate household preferences for open space. To parameterize the model, a new and rich dataset spanning 17 years of home sales in the seven-county Twin Cities area of Minnesota was assembled. Heterogeneity across types of open space and across households is shown to be a critical determinant of the welfare impacts of open space conservation. Our general equilibrium simulations allow housing prices to re-equilibrate in response to policy-induced demand shifts, demonstrating that as the scale of intervention becomes larger, general equilibrium and partial equilibrium welfare measures increasingly diverge. Finally, we find that the spatial structure of policy is an important component of policy design, suggesting open space policy should be place-specific in its design and implementation. Author Affiliation: (a) Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology, The Pennsylvania State University, 208A Armsby Building, University Park, PA 16802, USA (b) Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, North Carolina State University, USA Article History: Received 29 October 2009

This article uses a system of Poisson demand equations to examine the revenue potential associated with uniform, site-differentiated, and income-differentiated recreational access fees for more than 130 lakes in the state of Iowa. We also consider optimal fees in the spirit of Ramsey (1927) and demonstrate how the new insights from Banzhaf and Smith (2022) can empirically inform discussions of user fees. We find that user fees could be used to raise revenue for the maintenance of recreation infrastructure, but that they are generally regressive. Fees differentiated by income groups can attenuate (but not eliminate) this regressivity. (JEL Q26, Q51) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2005.07.012 Byline: Mary Atasoy (a), Raymond B. Palmquist (a), Daniel J. Phaneuf (b) Abstract: In this study, we examine the impact on water quality of urbanization using disaggregate data from Wake County, North Carolina. We use a unique panel data set tracing the conversion of individual residentially zoned land parcels to relate the density of residential development and the change in residential land use to three measures of water quality. Using a spatial econometrics model, we relate spatially and temporally referenced monitoring station readings to our measures of residential land use while controlling for other factors affecting water quality. We find that both the density of residential land use and the rate of land conversion have a negative impact on water quality. The impacts of these non-point sources are found to be larger in magnitude than those from urban point sources. Author Affiliation: (a) Department of Economics, North Carolina State University, P.O. Box 8110, Raleigh, NC 27695-8110, USA (b) Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695-8109, USA Article History: Received 17 September 2004; Revised 18 April 2005; Accepted 26 July 2005

The theoretical and empirical ramifications of welfare measurement in revealed preference models when weak complementarity does not hold are considered. That choice of restrictions can have significant ramifications, as use value estimates can vary based on the assumed preference structure, is considered.

The current domination of the seasonal, multi-site recreation demand literature is posed as a problem. A continuous and count data demand system models are a good alternative for the above mentioned problem.

For nearly 50 years, the Clean Water Act (CWA) has served as the main environmental statute that regulates water quality in the United States. Yet the jurisdictional limits of the act, in terms of which waters are regulated, remain unresolved. This article reviews the complicated history of these waters of the United States (WOTUS) and discusses the important role of economics in understanding the benefits and costs of a narrow versus a broad definition of WOTUS. During the Obama and Trump administrations, several economic analyses arrived at different conclusions regarding whether to expand or reduce CWA protections. We examine the key components of these analyses, including a novel federalism analysis used to support deregulation of US waterways. In this analysis, the Trump administration assumed that states would fill regulatory gaps left by the federal government. We conclude with some thoughts about key issues for the Biden administration to consider as it develops its own definition of WOTUS as well as research priorities for economists seeking to inform the debate about WOTUS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Changing fish communities in the Laurentian Great Lakes could substantially affect how anglers value fishing trips. Using responses from licensed Ontario, Canada anglers to potential fishing trip options, we estimated changes to per-trip values for transitioning from a walleye (Sander vitreus) to a bass (Micropterus spp.) fishery, and from a Chinook Salmon (Oncorynchus tshawytscha) to a lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush) fishery. These walleye and salmon transitions, respectively, were estimated to produce large per-trip losses for active ($64 and $35 CAD 2017) and potentially large losses for non-active but interested Great Lakes anglers ($29 and $34). These aggregate estimates masked significant differences among anglers. For example, a class of more-specialized, active anglers would lose more from walleye ($102) and from salmon ($46) transitions than would less specialized anglers ($19 and $2, respectively). These results confirm that fish community changes can strongly affect economic values among active and potential Great Lakes anglers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses best practices for implementing recreation demand models. We focus on insights that research and experience provide for the typical recreation application, where the analyst uses individual-level data to measure the value of changes in recreation site access or quality at one or more destinations. We examine issues related to data collection, pre-analysis tasks, modeling, and assessing quality, in addition to a discussion of future research needs. Our focus is on understanding best practices when the analyst's goal is to present accurate estimates of economic value of recreation site access or quality, and so we prioritize practical steps rather than describing the frontiers of methodological research in recreation demand modeling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]