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The heavy reliance on herbicides for weed control has led to an increase in resistant weeds in the United States. Robotic weed control is emerging as an alternative technology for removing weeds mechanically using artificial intelligence. We develop an integrated weed ecological and economic dynamic (I‐WEED) model to examine the biophysical and economic drivers of adopting robotic weed management and simulate the optimal timing and intensity of robotic adoption within and across growing seasons. We specify a cohort‐based weed growth model that relates yield damages to effective weed density and treats the susceptibility of weeds to herbicides as a renewable resource that can be regenerated by using mechanical weeding robots, due to a fitness cost that makes resistant weeds less prolific. Compared to myopic weed management which ignores resistance development, forward‐looking management leads to earlier adoption of robots and treating robots as complements instead of substitutes to herbicides. This weed management results in adopting fewer robots, deploying robots on a smaller portion of the land, higher profitability, and lower yield loss in the long run, relative to myopic management. Counterintuitively, myopic management leads to a lower resistance level through its higher robot adoption intensity. We also find that a lower level of initial weed seed resistance and/or a higher fitness cost result in a higher level of resistance because they create incentives for farmers to delay the adoption of robotic weed control. Our analysis shows the importance of jointly considering the interactions between weed ecology and economics in analyzing the incentives and effects of robotic weed management on weed resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The hunter is the key actor in unsustainable hunting of bushmeat in African forests and his behavior is driven by socioeconomic factors among others. However, not much is known about the effectiveness of incentive‐based conservation actions providing socioeconomic benefits to reduce hunting. This study, therefore, examined how changes in the socioeconomic situation of hunters brought about by reciprocal environmental agreements affects their hunting behavior. During a project implemented near the Dja Faunal Reserve (Cameroon), we recorded changes in socioeconomic characteristics of hunters for 15 months spanning 3 years. Bushmeat offtake and hunting effort parameters were also recorded. Comparisons of the evolution of these parameters over the years were made between hunters who signed the agreements and those who did not. We found that signatory hunters were older and had larger households than non‐signatories, and they earned more income from cocoa sales. Although both groups of hunters had similar characteristics regarding hunting behavior at the start of the project, signatory hunters harvested less bushmeat at the end of project. More time was spent in hunting by non‐signatory hunters compared to signatories who hunted less at the end of our monitoring period. Signatory hunters hunted less with firearms than non‐signatories, and they consumed more and sold less of their catches compared to non‐signatories. This study underlines the importance of reciprocal environmental agreements as an incentive‐based conservation scheme that can reduce hunting pressure. These findings show that economic incentives provided to individuals through reciprocal environment agreements can promote livelihood paradigm shifts, alleviating poverty, decreasing dependence on natural resources and benefiting animal conservation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From a panel of administrative data of contributors to the Argentine pension system, a survival analysis was carried out to compare the time in months until contributor status is lost for individuals who reach the minimum retirement age. The analysis involves two periods: one where the fully funded scheme was in force and the other with the pure pay‐as‐you‐go scheme in effect. It is observed that the survival curve of the contributor status during the second period is always above that in the first one, indicating that the probability of maintaining this status was always higher during the second period. Likewise, it was found that belonging to the cohort/group of the first period is significant in explaining the risk of losing contributor status, even controlling for other relevant variables. This result contrasts with the predictions of the World Bank about the best incentives that the fully funded scheme would generate for the supply of formal labor. Related Articles: Angelaki, Marina, and Leandro N. Carrera. 2015. "Radical Pension Reforms after the Crisis: A Comparative Analysis of Argentina and Greece." Politics & Policy 43(3): 378–400. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12117. Hazakis, Konstantinos J. 2015. "The Political Economy of Economic Adjustment Programs in the Eurozone: A Detailed Policy Analysis." Politics & Policy 43(6): 822–54. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12141. Jakee, Keith, and Keith Stacy. 2021. "Revisiting Pension Reform in Sweden: The Role of Corporatism (and Why it Matters)." Politics & Policy 49(3): 651–81. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12405. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pro‐environmental behaviors (PEBs) have been linked in the literature to social norms, intrinsic motivation and external conditions. However, no study has jointly analyzed these factors on a cross‐country dataset and given a holistic explanation of the variance observed in the adoption rates of PEBs across countries. Using a dataset measuring individual adoption of eight PEBs in the European Union's 28 member states (in 2018), we econometrically test these three groups of factors on a wider scale. We assess the importance of intrinsic motivation as a dominant factor and show how differing levels of intrinsic motivation influence the effectiveness of external conditions, such as monetary incentives and green infrastructures. The results suggest that two‐pronged policies, which take into account intrinsic motivation and external conditions, are needed to reach a high observance rate in the population in the short and in the long term. The wider significance of these results for policy is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Overharvesting of terrestrial and marine resources may be alleviated by encouraging an alternative configuration of livelihoods, particularly in rural communities in developing countries. Typical occupations in such areas include fishing and farming, and rural households often switch livelihood activities to suit climate and economic conditions. We used a machine‐learning tool, deep‐belief networks (DBN), and data from surveys of a rural Philippine coastal community to examine household desire to change livelihood. This desire is affected by a variety of factors, such as income, family needs, and feelings of work satisfaction, that are interrelated in complex ways. In farming households, livelihood changes often occur to diversify resources, increase income, and lessen economic risk. The DBN, given its multilayer perceptron structure, has a capacity to model nonlinear relationships among factors while providing an acceptable degree of accuracy. Relative to a set of 34 features (e.g., education, boat ownership, and work satisfaction), we examined the binary response variables desire to change work or not to change work. The best network had a test set accuracy of 97.5%. Among the features, 7 significantly affected desire to shift work: ethnicity, work satisfaction, number of persons in a household in ill health, number of fighting cocks owned, fishing engagement, buy‐and‐sell revenue, and educational level. A cross‐correlation matrix of these 7 features indicated households less inclined to change work were those engaged in fishing and retail buying and selling. For fishing, provision of economic and other incentives should be considered to encourage changing from this occupation to allow recovery of fishery resources. Article impact statement: Deep‐belief networks identify psychological, cultural, and economic determinants of livelihood switching to manage resource exploitation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we present a signaling model in which individuals engage in socially beneficial but costly activities in order to convey information about their willingness to cooperate with other agents. When several activities are available, the inclusion of monetary compensations in any one of them affects the relative costs of undertaking each activity and, therefore, their informative value for agents. We find the subsidies that maximize social welfare, which are shown to depend critically on the reputation gained from each activity. Finally, we use comparative statics analysis to study the effects on optimal subsidies of changes in their determinants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ever since Medicare began covering nearly every patient with end-stage renal disease in the United States, reimbursement for dialysis services has deviated from traditional fee-for-service. The method of reimbursing physicians for outpatient dialysis care has undergone a series of reforms in an effort to improve the overall quality of dialysis care and to control healthcare costs-changes that we are still seeing today. In 2004, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) changed the Monthly Capitation Payment (MCP) for physician reimbursement to the tiered fee-for-service system that is used today. This most recent reform encouraged more frequent face-to-face visits to patients receiving dialysis. While the quantity of visits increased in response to the change in reimbursement, the quality of care did not meaningfully improve, the policy may have had unintended negative health consequences and may have led to increases in wasteful physician and advanced practitioner effort. There are several promising opportunities to reform economic incentives around physician dialysis care that could improve the quality and value of care. These include new pay-for-performance initiatives, implementing incentives for high-quality care within fully capitated payment models, and reforming the MCP itself to link payment to high-value dialysis services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban ecosystems provide many benefits to people, including regulation of environmental conditions, recreational opportunities, and positive health impacts. However, many urban ecosystems are under pressure from increasing urbanisation, because the economic benefits they provide are rarely captured by the people who own and manage them. Such ecosystems are seldom economically competitive compared to more profitable residential, commercial, and industrial land uses.To develop more sustainable cities, we require new approaches for encouraging and enabling interventions that maintain, improve and create urban ecosystems. Payments for ecosystem services (PES) schemes are increasingly used to incentivise conservation and changes in environmental management in rural settings, but this approach has rarely been considered in cities. Here, we explain how payments for urban ecosystem services (PUES) could help protect, restore, and manage urban ecosystems.To implement PUES, we must understand the differences between various public and private actors who could potentially provide or benefit from urban ecosystem services. For example, utilities companies could pay for reduced water treatment costs via deculverting streams, homeowners could pay for improved stormwater management via increasing permeable surface area, and business proprietors could pay for street tree installation and maintenance to provide shade and reduce air conditioning costs.Urban densities, land values, and land tenure will impact the types of PUES projects that are most likely to be viable. To be successful, PUES will require an improved understanding of urban ecosystem service science—particularly how service provision changes under different land management practices.Nevertheless, because of the high densities, co‐location, and wide variety of stakeholders that live in cities, there is potential for PUES to become an innovative funding source to support future urban ecosystem management. A plain language summary is available for this article. Plain Language Summary [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes the development of an index of state biotechnology and genomic development and the cluster analysis used to group U.S. states based on their level of development in each area. Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) is then used to test hypotheses regarding statistically significant differences between the biotechnology/genomic development clusters and variables related to states' workforce, investment in research and development (R&D), and policy environment. The authors find statistically significant results in the areas of workforce education, migration of knowledge workers, industrial and nonindustrial R&D, and policy to promote the development of the biotechnology industry. While the MANOVA for policies placing limits on the development of biotechnology policy did not yield statistical significance, the authors argue that the finding deserves further study as it may indicate some states' willingness to strike a more sustainable balance between support and regulation. Related Articles: Brant, Hanna K., Nathan Myers, and Katherine L. Runge. 2017. "Promotion, Protection, and Entrepreneurship: Stakeholder Participation and Policy Change in the 21st Century Cures Initiative." Politics & Policy 45 (3), 372‐404. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12201 Harvey, Olivia. 2009. "Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research in the United States: Some Policy Options for Industry Development." Politics & Policy 37 (1): 51‐71. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1747-1346.2008.00161.x Berkovich, Simon. 2008. "Caution on Genetic Engineering Developments in View of Uncertainties of Modern Fundamental Science." Politics & Policy 37 (1): 1144‐1146. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1747-1346.2008.00157_2.x [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Illegal private land deforestation threatens global biodiversity, even in areas with native habitat requirements stipulated by law. Compliance can be improved by allowing landholders to meet legal reserve requirements by buying and selling the rights to have deforested land through a Tradeable Development Rights system (TDR). While this policy mechanism may prevent native habitat area loss, the spatial pattern of reserved areas will shift, creating novel landscape patterns. The resulting altered fragmentation and connectivity of habitat will impact biodiversity. TDR may also allow landholders to earn rent on land they never intended on converting, resulting in additional deforestation elsewhere and net habitat loss. We construct a simulation model to explore the potential implications for biodiversity when development rights can be traded, compared with the landscape resulting from enforced individual compliance with deforestation laws. We find that where future deforestation is very likely, a TDR market can provide better outcomes for both biodiversity and agriculture, resulting in more connected habitat networks with larger fragments and fewer edge effects. However, the TDR market can be harmful if future deforestation is unlikely, or if one habitat type is tightly spatially correlated with high economic returns from agriculture. Policy implications. Allowing landholders to buy and sell the rights to keep more cleared land than legally stipulated will result in transformed multiuse landscapes. Losses of native habitat in some areas will be offset in others. We conclude that trading forest development rights has the potential to improve habitat configurations, but that careful consideration should be given to current species distributions and likely future deforestation scenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In terrestrial and coastal systems, the mitigation hierarchy is widely and increasingly used to guide actions to ensure that no net loss of biodiversity ensues from development. We develop a conceptual model which applies this approach to the mitigation of marine megafauna by‐catch in fisheries, going from defining an overarching goal with an associated quantitative target, through avoidance, minimization, remediation to offsetting. We demonstrate the framework's utility as a tool for structuring thinking and exposing uncertainties. We draw comparisons between debates ongoing in terrestrial situations and in by‐catch mitigation, to show how insights from each could inform the other; these are the hierarchical nature of mitigation, out‐of‐kind offsets, research as an offset, incentivizing implementation of mitigation measures, societal limits and uncertainty. We explore how economic incentives could be used throughout the hierarchy to improve the achievement of by‐catch goals. We conclude by highlighting the importance of clear agreed goals, of thinking beyond single species and individual jurisdictions to account for complex interactions and policy leakage, of taking uncertainty explicitly into account and of thinking creatively about approaches to by‐catch mitigation in order to improve outcomes for conservation and fishers. We suggest that the framework set out here could be helpful in supporting efforts to improve by‐catch mitigation efforts and highlight the need for a full empirical application to substantiate this. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Policy makers (both public and private) are seeking ways to improve the value delivered within our health care system, that is, using fewer resources to provide the same benefit to patients, or using equivalent resources to provide more benefit. One strategy is to alter the predominant fee-for-service (FFS) economic incentives in the current system. To inform such policy changes, this paper identifies areas in which little is known about the effects of specific incentives (FFS, salary, etc.) on the two components of value: resource use and quality. Specific suggestions are offered regarding research that would be informative for policy makers, focusing on fundamental "building block" studies rather than overall evaluations of complex interventions, such as accountable care organizations. This research would better identify critical aspects of the FFS model and salary-based payments that are particularly problematic, as well as situations in which FFS or salary may be less problematic. The research would also explore when alternatives, such as episode-based payment might be feasible, or simply be hypothetical solutions. The availability of electronic health record-based data in various delivery systems would allow many of these studies to be accomplished in 3-5 years with budgets manageable by public and private funding sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Declines in economic activity and associated changes in human livelihood strategies can increase threats of species overexploitation. This is exemplified by the effects of economic crises, which often drive intensification of subsistence poaching and greater reliance on natural resources. Whereas development theory links natural resource use to social-economic conditions, few empirical studies of the effect of economic downturns on wild animal species have been conducted. I assessed the relations between African elephant (Loxodonta africana) mortality and human-caused wounds in Samburu, Kenya and (1) livestock and maize prices (measures of local economic conditions), (2) change in national and regional gross domestic product (GDP) (measures of macroeconomic conditions), and (3) the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) (a correlate of primary productivity). In addition, I analyzed household survey data to determine the attitudes of local people toward protected areas and wild animals in the area. When cattle prices in the pastoralist study region were low, human-caused wounds to and adult mortality of elephants increased. The NDVI was negatively correlated with juvenile mortality, but not correlated with adult mortality. Changes in Kenyan and East Asian (primary market for ivory) GDP did not explain significant variation in mortality. Increased human wounding of elephants and elephant mortality during periods of low livestock prices (local economic downturns) likely reflect an economically driven increase in ivory poaching. Local but not macroeconomic indices explained significant variation in mortality, likely due to the dominance of the subsistence economy in the study area and its political and economic isolation. My results suggest economic metrics can serve as effective indicators of changes in human use of and resulting effects on natural resources. Such information can help focus management approaches (e.g., antipoaching effort or proffering of alternative occupational opportunities) that address variation in local activities that threaten plant and animal populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The need for public investment to address loss of biodiversity in agricultural landscapes is well recognised, yet there is little analysis of the likely benefits of land-use change for regional biodiversity or the cost effectiveness of different investment options. We estimated benefits for biodiversity and cost effectiveness of different investment scenarios over 50 years for a farming area in south-eastern Australia. Declines in biodiversity were predicted under status quo land use. Implementing actions in the investment scenarios improved biodiversity status only slightly, compared with status quo land use. Future biodiversity status differed little between biodiversity-focused investment and salinity-focused investment. Biodiversity status equalled or exceeded current status only for investment scenarios with much more extensive revegetation than in catchment targets. Cost effectiveness of biodiversity improvement varied greatly between investment strategies. Biodiversity improvement was more cost effective when investment to meet catchment targets was focused on revegetation for salinity management rather than on high conservation value areas, because of lower opportunity costs for salinity management. With enhanced investment, the cost effectiveness of biodiversity improvement was greater when actions were in high conservation areas. Although improvements in biodiversity were small under the changed farming system scenarios, their cost effectiveness was higher than the other investment scenarios. Regional scale improvements in biodiversity in farming areas will require increased stewardship payments or other economic incentives for landholders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The adoption of fisheries closures and gear restrictions in the conservation of coral reefs may be limited by poor understanding of the economic profitability of competing economic uses of marine resources. Over the past 12 years, I evaluated the effects of gear regulation and fisheries closures on per person and per area incomes from fishing in coral reefs of Kenya. In two of my study areas, the use of small-meshed beach seines was stopped after 6 years; one of these areas was next to a fishery closure. In my third study area, fishing was unregulated. Fishing yields on per capita daily wet weight basis were 20% higher after seine-net fishing was stopped. The per person daily fishing income adjacent to the closed areas was 14 and 22% higher than the fishing income at areas with only gear restrictions before and after the seine-net restriction, respectively. Incomes differed because larger fish were captured next to the closed area and the price per weight (kilograms) increased as fish size increased and because catches adjacent to the closure contained fish species of higher market value. Per capita incomes were 41 and 135% higher for those who fished in gear-restricted areas and near-closed areas, respectively, compared with those who fished areas with no restrictions. On a per unit area basis (square kilometers), differences in fishing income among the three areas were not large because fishing effort increased as the number of restrictions decreased. Changes in catch were, however, larger and often in the opposite direction expected from changes in effort alone. For example, effort declined 21% but nominal profits per square kilometer (not accounting for inflation) increased 29% near the area with gear restrictions. Gear restrictions also reduced the cost of fishing and increased the proportion of self-employed fishers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study on the assessment on the impact of poaching to the population of the one-horned rhinoceros at the Royal Chitwan National Park (RCNP) in Nepal. It intends to analyze the effect of poaching within the ecological, socioeconomic, political and legal framework by integrating the poaching model with the population dynamic models. These models were used to predict the population of rhinos within 1973-2002 which is vital to determine the efficiency of antipoaching policy.

This study examined the roles of the public and private sectors as economic components of anthrax control with direct reference to the 2005 anthrax outbreak in livestock in North Dakota. Anthrax is an endemic disease in North Dakota, which often causes disease outbreaks in livestock, leading to economic losses to the livestock industry. The economic incentives and interests behind public and private control of an anthrax outbreak are investigated. Anthrax management is most effective with the participation of public and private firms. As anthrax is an infectious disease, its control also brings positive economic externalities, which are not accounted for in a producer’s decision to protect animals. Therefore, public programs designed to control the disease must be implemented. The government can change producer response to anthrax by setting up policies and incentives that encourage their participation. However, these interventions must encourage compliance and not discourage producers from actively taking part in anthrax management. Producers have economy-based interests and personal reasons for controlling anthrax in their farms. The main reason behind government intervention is to provide assurance to the public who consume livestock products. Another reason is to assist producers and veterinarians, and to achieve biosecurity and biosafety objectives. The contribution of each animal healthcare partner in making anthrax management a success in North Dakota is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within the German welfare system, recipients’ heating expenditures are generally fully covered by the government. This paper empirically tests the hypothesis that households receiving welfare payments turn to overconsumption of residential space heating. We use micro-data from two different data sources to explore whether the conditional heating expenditures of these households differ significantly from those of other households. Our empirical findings suggest that even when controlling for a range of other factors, this is indeed the case, as their heating expenditures lie about 7–8 per cent above those of other households. These results are fairly robust to sensitivity analyses. Comparing the results with those for a control group, expenditures for heating are still more than 5 per cent higher. Our results imply that there is potential scope for cost savings if this policy is changed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Empirical research in the area of corporate sustainability highlights potential conflicts between corporate financial performance and environmental performance. In such a situation, agency theory arguments applied to the corporate environmental context predict that top management compensation should be explicitly linked to environmental performance in order to bring about proper alignment of organizational environmental goals and management incentives. We test this proposition for a sample of 207 Standard & Poor 500 firms in the US in 1996 who explicitly report in Investor Responsibility Research Council (IRRC) surveys the presence or absence of a contractual link between environmental performance and executive compensation. We find that only in firms with an explicit linkage between environmental performance and executive contracts is there is any evidence of a significant impact of firm-level environmental performance on CEO compensation levels. However, even this impact is not very impressive since (a) it holds only for IRRC compliance and spill indices and does not hold for IRRC toxic emission indices, and (b) even the effects for compliance and spill indices do not hold relative to industry levels of these indices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a large sample of small private companies, we show incremental influence of economic incentives over prescriptions from accounting standards by financial statement preparers in a code-law setting with high alignment between financial and tax reporting and no agency problems. Contrary to predictions from standards, more profitable companies are more likely to write-off and the write-off magnitude is greater, reflecting tax minimisation. Larger companies are more likely to write-off, but the magnitude decreases with size, reflecting increasing political costs due to greater visibility to tax authorities. Previous write-off patterns and magnitudes are persistent, reflecting institutional learning linked to regulatory changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Payments for environmental services (PES) represent a new, more direct way to promote conservation. They explicitly recognize the need to address difficult trade-offs by bridging the interests of landowners and external actors through compensations. Theoretical assessments praise the advantages of PES over indirect approaches, but in the tropics PES application has remained incipient. Here I aim to demystify PES and clarify its scope for application as a tool for tropical conservation. I focus on the supply side of PES (i.e., how to convert PES funding into effective conservation on the ground), which until now has been widely neglected. I reviewed the PES literature for developing countries and combined these findings with observations from my own field studies in Latin America and Asia. A PES scheme, simply stated, is a voluntary, conditional agreement between at least one “seller” and one “buyer” over a well-defined environmental service—or a land use presumed to produce that service. Major obstacles to effective PES include demand-side limitations and a lack of supply-side know-how regarding implementation. The design of PES programs can be improved by explicitly outlining baselines, calculating conservation opportunity costs, customizing payment modalities, and targeting agents with credible land claims and threats to conservation. Expansion of PES can occur if schemes can demonstrate clear additionality (i.e., incremental conservation effects vis-à-vis predefined baselines), if PES recipients' livelihood dynamics are better understood, and if efficiency goals are balanced with considerations of fairness. PES are arguably best suited to scenarios of moderate conservation opportunity costs on marginal lands and in settings with emerging, not-yet realized threats. Actors who represent credible threats to the environment will more likely receive PES than those already living in harmony with nature. A PES scheme can thus benefit both buyers and sellers while improving the resource base, but it is unlikely to fully replace other conservation instruments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The widespread conversion of rural land to low-density residential development poses an immediate threat to biodiversity and to the provision of ecosystem services. Given that development will continue and environmental stakes are high, analyzing alternative growth strategies is critical. Conservation development is one such strategy that has the potential to benefit ecosystems and diverse stakeholders including developers, homebuyers, governments, and society as a whole. Conservation development clusters homes on one part of a property to manage the most ecologically important land for the conservation of biodiversity and ecosystem services. We draw on lessons learned from landscape ecology, open-space development, and regional planning to weigh the biophysical, economic, and institutional evidence for and against conservation development. Conservation development offers many potential environmental and economic advantages: relatively high home values and appreciation rates, lower development costs, and social and ecological benefits to society including landscape connectivity, protection and active stewardship of important ecological assets, and the maintenance of ecosystem services. But this approach also has shortcomings: it may require enlightened institutional regulations and regional planning (and/or ecologically aware developers), it is not always more profitable than conventional development and thus may require subsidies or incentives, and additional research is required to fully understand its benefits and drawbacks. With more information on the effects of clustering, the development of flexible zoning laws, and effective regional planning, conservation development could be a viable strategy for sustaining biodiversity and ecosystem services in changing landscapes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The most important message of Levin (Ecol Res 21:328–333, 2006) is that “Ecologists and economists have much incentive for interaction.” Recent studies that account for evolutionary processes and local interactions support this view by obtaining results that run counter to conventional wisdom within resource economics. A second major message of the article is that to meet environmental challenges, humanity must develop social norms that enhance cooperative responses. Successful examples of resource management systems back up norms with economic incentives: rewards for good behavior and punishments for bad. Economic incentives are especially important if rapid and large changes in human behavior are desired. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Freshwater fishes are threatened by a wide array of factors, but anthropogenic disturbance, especially species introductions and translocations, impoundment of rivers, pollution, habitat degradation and overexploitation, seem to underlie the decline and extinction of many species. Although actions have been taken to address some precarious situations, traditional methods of conservation management, for example, regulation of exploitation, designation of nature reserves, captive breeding programmes for stock enhancement, do not seem to be as effective for freshwater fishes as for other animal groups. This paper summarises the present threats to freshwater fishes, identifies the underlying issues and reviews the problems relating to current management practices. It uses a case study from an Iberian highly endangered cyprinid fish – Anaecypris hispanica (Steindachner) – to highlight the options for action to protect the freshwater fish natural heritage for future generations. It is concluded that if conducted in a comprehensive manner, involving the wider public and all stakeholders, fish conservation management will confer wider environmental benefits and protect biodiversity for future generations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary For the 70% of New Zealand under private ownership, native biodiversity conservation has to occur within a landscape that must also provide a productive return to land owners. Recent New Zealand legislation, especially the Resource Management Act 1991, promotes sustainable management on private land by allowing for the economic and cultural well-being of local communities while providing for the protection of natural resources including native biodiversity. We suggest that, to effectively conserve native biodiversity in rural landscapes, we need to consider four key issues: (i) what might be realistic goals for native biodiversity conservation; (ii) how might we better arrange different land uses to meet both native biodiversity and production goals; (iii) what is the optimum arrangement of native biodiversity; and (iv) how native biodiversity conservation can improve productive returns to land managers. Options to enhance native biodiversity conservation include a variety of incentives (e.g. management agreements, financial incentives and regulatory systems) and onsite management options (e.g. remnant management, restoration plantings, weed and pest control, use of native species for commercial and amenity purposes, use of exotic species to facilitate native biodiversity). The importance of taking a landscape-based rather than a paddock-based approach to management is emphasized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Degradation of the global environment and depletion of resources are threatening sustainable development of mankind. In particular, climate change caused by increasing greenhouse gases is one of the most serious issues in analyzing energy systems. This paper aims at proposing frameworks to investigate sustainability and at evaluating technologies for sustainable energy systems. For this purpose, we first define the index of sustainable limits on resource depletion and emissions. Sustainability of mineral and energy resources is evaluated based on the index. Estimations indicate that energy resources and CO2 are unsustainable, and that we should introduce technologies to reduce energy consumption and CO2 emissions. Life cycle energy requirements are assessed for photovoltaic systems as representatives of the technologies. Through the life cycle assessment, we quantitatively evaluate measures to improve life cycle energy requirements and capital costs. At the same time, we clarify the direction of research and development required for technologies to realize sustainable energy systems. © 1999 Scripta Technica, Electr Eng Jpn, 130(2): 25–31, 2000 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study on economic dimensions of resource management institutions for marine ecosystem that are used in fishery management structures and processes. It refers limiting access to marine fisheries that kept the focus on conservation, rights to ecological, economic and political principles of institutions for environment and delegate responsibility to fishermen's organizations by Fisheries co-management.

Presents an examination of the incidence and importance of pay incentives among a sample of Australian establishments. Economics of personnel and strategic choice; Effects of monitoring, job security and industrial relations climate; Analysis of data from the Australian Workplace Industry Relations Survey (AWIRS).

We examine the joint effects of task interdependence and reward interdependence on group behavior and performance. We develop a model that predicts that task and reward interdependence will interact to increase performance, and present results of a laboratory experiment that confirms our prediction. We explore the efficacy of group reward systems for different task designs, and the relationship between cooperation and performance. We confirm earlier results on the weakness of the free-rider effect in small face-to-face groups. We also find, surprisingly, that while reward interdependence is important to performance, task interdependence, but not reward interdependence, drives observed cooperative behavior. This last result suggests caution in interpreting the efficacy of changes in the design of work. Such changes, if unaccompanied by changes in the design of the reward system, are likely to appear successful in terms of observed cooperation, but may not enhance performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A type of organizational reward system based on personal power is described and partially tested. The theory, developed from observations of Hungarian organizations, is grounded in theories of procedural justice and learned helplessness. Person-based organizational reward systems are characterized by highly valued rewards combined with personalistic criteria for reward distribution. Such organizational reward systems were hypothesized to lead to employee perceptions of organizational unfairness; negative evaluations of others; anxiety; and perceptions of self, collegial and organizational inefficacy. These hypotheses were supported in tests in a sample of three Hungarian state-owned organizations classified as having person-based systems and five non-person-based organizations (two Hungarian privately-owned companies, one American state-owned and two American privately-owned organizations). In addition, several behavioral effects of person-based reward systems were proposed: they foster bargaining behavior, withholding of information, avoidance of collaborative tasks, ingratiation and noncompliance with rules. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reexamines the issue of optimal patent breadth in extending the earlier literature to the case where many firms race for a patent. It also discusses several examples that suggest the relevance of the nature of competition prevailing in the product market to explain the diverse results found in the literature. Loosely speaking, the less efficient is competition in the product market, the more likely it is that broad and short patents are socially optimal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a disciplinary explanation for some seemingly paradoxi cal stylized facts from the takeover literature. Most notable among these are: (1) hostile takeovers are predicted better by industry-wide than by firm-specific performance failures; and (2) gains from a successful bid for a specific firm extend to other firms in the same industry. Our explanation is based on the idea that managerial incentives based on relative performance evaluation may induce an inefficient industry-wide equilibrium in which all firms underperform with respect to a value-maximizing firm, but no firm underperforms with respect to the industry average. A takeover can serve as a means to destroy such an inefficient industry-wide incentive equilibrium. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper surveys recent work in contract theory that relates to the allocation of tasks among agents within an organization as well as to the effect of product market competition upon optimal contracting and agency costs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reimbursement systems for health-care providers are very complex, like the production systems that they regulate. This complexity has led to some important misperceptions about the incentive consequences of major reimbursement reforms. One example is the prospective payment system (PPS), developed to provide "high-powered" incentives through fixed prices for hospital admissions for the US elderly. In fact, various features of the DRG system allow reimbursement to vary with actual treatment decisions during an admission, and so are not prospective. This paper develops a general method for measuring actual reimbursement incentives in complex regulated price systems. The method uses regression techniques with variance decompositions to quantify the effects of particular features of the payment system on prospective and retrospective cost sharing, as well as overall generosity of payments. I apply this method to microdata on 20 percent of Medicare hospital admissions in 1987 and 1990 to summarize the incentives created by PPS in practice, and how the incentives are evolving over time. I show that PPS involves limited and decreasing cost sharing with hospitals, most of which is not prospective. The reimbursement incentives vary substantially across diagnoses, demographic groups, and types of intensive treatments, possibly with important implications for hospital behavior and medical expenditure growth. The techniques developed here can be used to analyze a broad range of provider reimbursement mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Suggests ways to reduce the child support welfare disincentive problem. Evidence of unreported income of women recipients; Benefits of imposing escrow accounts; Collusion between custodial parents and noncustodial parents.

Discusses the selection of an appropriate combination of new vehicle technologies and alternate fuels that support the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments in the United States. Options for controlling vehicle emissions; Vehicle technologies; Cost-effective analysis for the use of cleaner fuels and vehicles; Policy implications.

Reports on the Washington reemployment bonus experiment which tested whether the offer of a cash bonus to new unemployment insurance claimants would encourage quicker reemployment. Strongest treatment response by claimants offered a high bonus level with a long qualification period; Cost effectiveness of the high bonus level.

Examines the efficiency of unit pricing of residential municipal solid waste (MSW) as an application of market-based incentives to environmental policy and management in the United States. Implementation of unit pricing; Community recycling programs; Telephone and mail surveys of 21 cities; Effect on the formulation of environmental policy.

The article describes how Whirlpool Corp. in Benton Harbor, Michigan, uses varied performance based compensation programs to achieve strategic ends. Though the company's worldwide growth has proceeded rapidly and successfully, the operating expectations for the North American Appliance Group (NAAG) remain challenging. To meet them, NAAG is seeking to create a dominant consumer franchise in home appliances that will give consumers compelling reasons beyond price, such as quality and services, to insist on Whirlpool-built products. Whirlpool's first experience with an effective, performance-based compensation program, albeit on a small scale, was at its Benton Harbor tooling and plating facility in the late 1980s.

The article presents the author's commentary on S. A. Levin and J. R. Vincent's discussion about the use of incentives and the appeal to a shift in social norms in addressing environmental challenges. The two approaches are said to differ in the time scale on which they would be effective, with the incentives yielding more rapid results and the shift in social norms being achieved in a slow process. The use of incentives in mitigating human degradation of the environment and the need for the collaboration between ecologists and economists in society development are discussed.