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Empirical work regarding the impact of environmental regulations on firm behavior has been developed under the assumption that emissions of pollutants are deterministic. The implication is that the regulation is effective only when the constraint is exactly satisfied. In real life, however, it is seldom the case that emission constraints are exactly satisfied. The purpose of this paper is to find out whether regulation schemes are ineffective, or whether the structure is an optimal reaction to random fluctuations in emissions. The Swedish pulp and paper industry is used as an empirical illustration [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study identifies adoption determinants of selected cleaner technologies used in bleached kraft pulp production, with emphasis on incentives for voluntary environmental management. A double-hurdle model consistent with the theory of irreversible investment under uncertainty outperformed a probit specification, indieating the importance of option values as an adoption deterrent. Measures of public pressure for environmental performance, such as Toxics Release Inventory data and environmental group membership, were positively associated with cleaner technology adoption. The results suggest a role for environmetal policy designs that accommodate the industry's private incentives while minimizing the value of waiting to adopt cleaner technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides a critical assessment of the improvements in precision and bias to welfare measures from combining contingent valuation and travel cost data. Simulation experiments are performed using a variation of the model first suggested by Cameron (1992a) with a focus on identifying likely lower bounds on these gains. In addition to examining single-bounded contingent valuation as a component of the combined model, this paper investigates additional gains that may accrue from employing a double-bounded variant of contingent valuation. Sizable gains in both bias and precision are found in the simulation experiments. The results suggest that additional investigation into these models is warranted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a recent paper in this journal, "The Death of the Pigovian Tax? Policy Implications from the Double-Dividend Debate," Eban Goodstein examines the theoretical results and policy implications of the environmental "tax-interaction" literature of the past decade. Although his call for continued assessments of this literature is commendable, Goodstein's paper includes some misinterpretations and inaccuracies. This comment indicates that, contrary to Goodstein's claims, the tax-interaction literature is consistent with prior theory and supports the use of environmental taxes. In addition, this comment aims to clarify the implications of tax interactions for optimal environmental taxation, the "double dividend," and related issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, economists appear to have abandoned a central precept of environmental policy: optimal environmental taxes are equal to marginal environmental damage (MED). As a consequence of labor market distortions, optimal environmental taxes are now generally argued to typically lie below MED. and given realistic policy constraints on optimal tax reform, sometimes well below MED. This new consensus is reflected in over a dozen papers published without rebuttal in prestigious economics journals, in important survey articles, and in policy-oriented manuscripts. How was it possible that .such a radical transformation of economic thinking occurred with essentially no debate in the literature? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conventional wisdom implies economic growth and environmental quality are incompatible policy objectives. Recent empirical evidence, however, suggests stringency of environmental regulations are only weakly (or not at all) associated with decreased manufacturing activity. This paper uses more recent (1982-1994) state-level panel data to test if environmental regulations affect manufacturing employment. Estimation results from our three-stage sample selection panel data model suggest that state environmental regulations adversely affect job growth in three of the four industries analyzed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reevaluates the effectiveness of the EPA's voluntary 33/50 program in reducing the releases of 17 high-priority toxic chemicals for the 1988-1995 period. Contrary to previous studies that use program participation information at the firm level and find mixed evidence on the effectiveness of the program, our analysis uses participation status at the facility level and shows the importance of undertaking analysis at a disaggregated scale. We find the rate of reduction in releases was significantly higher for program participants than nonparticipants, but the effect is attenuated when estimated using firm-level participation data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

U.S. and E.U. environmental policy employ criminal sanctions to enforce compliance. Recent moves toward revising their use are based on little empirical evidence as to their effectiveness. This paper exploits a unique dataset to study the deterrent effect of criminal enforcement. The dynamic panel data analysis leads to three findings. First, criminal sanctions do provide the intended deterrent effects. Second, standing trial provides one of the most significant deterrents, rather than the probability of conviction or the magnitude of fines. Third, public preferences regarding environmental quality and political economy variables affect reported environmental crime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers the use of a "combinatorial optimization" technique in the aggregation of environmental benefit values. Combinatorial optimization is used to statistically match population census data to a contingent valuation survey. The matched survey and census information is then used to produce regional and national total willingness-to-pay figures. These figures are then compared to figures derived using more standard approaches to calculating aggregate environment benefit values. The choice of aggregation approach is shown to have a major impact upon estimates of total benefits at a regional level, especially when the target population displays considerable heterogeneity across space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the role of participation as a tool for improving individuals' perceptions and environmental values using a test retest experiment conducted in south-eastern Nigeria. Two identical contingent valuation experiments were interspersed by participatory workshops designed to involve respondents in framing and forming the valuation scenario. Econometric analyses found that participatory education significantly developed individuals' perceptions of pollution problems and increased the magnitude and precision of their WTP for a river basin management scheme. The extent of changes in perceptions declined with increasing levels of formal education, suggesting that less educated respondents are more likely to hold weakly formed preferences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the links between environmental taxes and distortionary taxation in a dynamic model of climate change and economic growth. Under first-best conditions, labor and capital would remain untaxed, and carbon dioxide emissions would be taxed at a rate equal to the present-value marginal cost they impose on future society, setting the discount rate equal to the marginal productivity of capital. Under second-best conditions, however, this decision rule substantially understates optimal emissions taxes when the resulting revenues are used to provide targeted cuts in distortionary taxes. Conversely, relatively low emissions taxes are economically justified given lump-sum revenue recycling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two research programs are brought together to contribute to the growing body of work on alternatives to standard welfare-based approaches to environmental valuation and policy. The first is the theoretical literature undermining the "new welfare economics." The second is the growing body of work on endogenous preferences. Both these research programs point to the necessity of interpersonal comparisons in welfare economics. This paper focuses on (1) the theoretical flaws in the use of Potential Pareto Improvements as a policy guide, (2) the "filtering" of expressed preferences through the axioms of consumer choice, and (3) the role of endogenous preferences in a reformulation of environmental valuation and policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers the use of contingent valuation to estimate non-market benefits from separately valued nested goods. Survey respondents were asked referendum WTP questions regarding either a scheme to protect the "whole" area of a wetland or a scheme to protect some nested "part" sub-area. The survey design permitted first-response testing and comparison of part and whole values revealed mixed evidence of scope sensitivity. However, allowing for variation in the degree to which differing schemes are considered to be realistic revealed highly significant scope sensitivity. These results illustrate the need for a detailed understanding of the preferences and beliefs of respondents when performing scope sensitivity tests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biodiversity loss has been recognized as one of the most important global environmental problems, but the choice of conservation policies is hampered by the lack of an operational concept of biodiversity. Weitzman (1992, 1998) develops a framework for the measurement of diversity and the identification of cost-effective policies for the preservation of biodiversity. Weitzman's framework has been criticized as being unsuitable for the global problem of biodiversity loss. This paper responds to this critique. It is shown that Weitzman's framework of diversity measurement can be made practical and applicable by shifting the level analysis from species to ecosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Emissions trading takes place from two alternative baselines: 1) emission reduction credits (ERCs) in which the baseline is existing regulations which are often activity based; or 2) capand trade which specifies the toted allowable emissions. This paper examines the effects of these two tradable permit systems on marginal and average costs for the firm, using electricity, generation as an example. The ERC system subsidizes the activity level to which it is tied and fails to incorporate the full cost of external harm into the product price. If the permit limit is chosen efficiently, the capand trade system is more efficient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is clear concern in developing and transition economies that new and proposed changes in environmental policies and regulations will reduce exports. The existing 'trade and environment' literature, however, provides little empirical guidance for policy makers to evaluate sector-specific trade impacts of environmental regulatory changes. To assist with such analysis, this paper develops a microeconomic framework that can be used to evaluate the impact of changed environmental regulations on exports. The results provide clear empirical guidance to understand when the impact of such changes are likely to be relatively small and when the impacts are larger. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes a promising new evaluation approach, called a "value integration survey," that uses the objectives and tradeoffs expressed by participants to value environmental policy options. This constructive technique, which builds on the interactive elicitation process of decision analysts, assists stakeholders in clarifying their values and in agreeing on a policy alternative. The paper compares this multiattribute valuation method to contingent valuation surveys, describes the sequence of respondents' tasks, and presents results from a case study comparison of contingent valuation and value-integration survey methods in the context of valuing options for fire control in Oregon's oldgrowth forests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author clarifies points made by critic, Jon Harford about his paper regarding the efficient scale of the pollution-abating firm. Harford is on firm ground in faulting the eclectic classification of abatement functions in the research. Under the critic's compact scheme, everything falls neatly in to place; the independent case is no longer independent of the scale and the balance case illustrates constant returns to scale in both abatement and output. When there are increasing returns to scale in abatement, the polluting firms efficiently operate under decreasing returns to scale in production. This result is illustrated by the numerical examples given in the paper.

This paper explores potential focus shift asymmetries in an ordered strength of preference model applied to contingent choice data. A focus shift occurs when respondents weight factors differently when assessing preference for an "accepted" scenario than they do when assessing preference for a "rejected" scenario, and may imply that respondents do not refer to a single underlying preference function. Using data drawn from a survey which addressed preferences for watershed management, the model results identified focus shift asymmetries in the ordered strength of preference model. The paper discusses implications for policy, survey design, and discrete-choice preference estimation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The importance of stressing the realism or policy relevance of a contingent valuation (CV) survey is commonly recognized by CV researchers. This paper focuses on the relationship between the probability that a subject's response will result in "real" consequences and the subject's accurate reporting of willingness to pay. Results from experiments support the argument that efforts to make contingent valuation surveys "real" are important. However, our results also suggest that the connection between the survey and the likelihood of a payment must be rather powerful before surveys generate accurate reporting of willingness to pay for a public good. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is concerned with policies for the supply of public, environmental goods from the farm .sector, hi particular, we characterize the buying of these goods by the public from farmers using the ‘Provider Gets Principle.‘ This principle is well established in OECD countries, as we demonstrate. Results from ecological-economic modeling of the conservation of heather moorland in northern Scotland, using this principle, are described. This mode! enables us to identify spatially differentiated ecological targets, and to calculate the minimum necessary payments needed to achieve these targets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines why formal housing costs are so high in Malaysia. Two complementary analyses are presented: a microanalysis of a wide range of government interventions (taxes, subsidies, and regulations): and an aggregate analysis of housing supply behavior. The interventions analysts demonstrates that the costs of regulatory and pricing restrictions far outweigh the benefits of subsidies and regulatory exemptions. The aggregate supply model demonstrates the effects of such regulations on market prices and shows, using comparisons to the U.S., Thailand, and Korea, that countries with more stringent regulatory environments have a less elastic supply of housing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of "sustainability" has been increasingly invoked in scholarly and public policy debates. Discussion has been hampered, however, by uncertainty and lack of uniformity in the meaning of sustainability. This paper seeks to identify some common ground among economists, ecologists, and environmental ethicists. Two issues seem salient: requirements for intergenerational equity and the definition of "social capital" to be provided to future generations. A concept of "safe minimum standard," which has received at least some recognition in the ecology, philosophy, and economics literatures, may provide the beginnings of a common ground for debate about sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper of researcher Robert Kohn about the efficient scale of the pollution-abating firm is critiqued. His approach is analyzed which is based on using a simple general equilibrium model to analyze the efficient scale of output for perfectly competitive firms whose pollution has a negative effect on another industry. While Kohn's frameowrk is useful and his analysis is technically correct, it is suggested that another form for the abatement function and a different definition of returns to scale in abatement yields a simpler and more intuitive notion of the determinants of the optimal scale of the pollution-abating firm. Additionally, it is also shown that Kohn's presumption that it is entirely possible for the fraction of gross pollution eliminated by abatement to be an increasing function of the level of gross pollution.

This paper explores the empirical effects of decentralization on environmental quality by studying water pollution in rivers around the world. It examines the level of pollution and variation in pollution across jurisdictions within a country, for both a local and a regional pollutant. Federal countries exhibit greater interjurisdictional variation in pollution, supporting the traditional view that decentralization allows policies more tailored to local conditions. The analysis does not point to a "race to the bottom" in pollution levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines how auctions for ecosystem services introduce adverse selection, limiting cost-effectiveness. Induced-value experiments test theory and examine the extent of adverse selection in these markets. In comparison to the baseline of either doing nothing or the optimality of an externality-correcting tax, a discriminatory reverse auction and two screening contracts are tested. In limited budget situations, the auction achieved the lowest social surplus, while screening contracts that rely upon the government observing the development value yield the highest relative social surplus. These results are important because recent environmental policy trends are focused on expanding fiscally costly reverse auctions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stated preference surveys often provide ambiguous descriptions of ecological commodities, yielding welfare estimates that have unclear interpretations and cannot be linked to measurable outcomes. This paper proposes guidelines to promote ecological content validity in survey scenarios and defensible use of ecological information for welfare analysis. These guidelines are illustrated through an application to migratory fish restoration. Content validity is evaluated vis-à-vis norms for communication of ecological changes in the ecological literature. Findings suggest that less structured treatment of ecological commodities may lead to an omission of information that is relevant to respondents and essential for valid welfare estimation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The design of environmental policy raises several equity issues, in particular the distribution of benefits and costs. At the same time, it has often been argued that there is a trade-off in environmental policy between equity and efficiency, which brings these issues firmly to the attention of environmental economics. In this paper we use a simple choice experiment to elicit individual preferences over equity-efficiency trade-offs in the context of two environmental problems, local air pollution and global climate change. We find that equity matters to people as much as efficiency does in the design and delivery of environmental policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Policy makers have turned to competition-based voluntary-enrollment programs as a cost-effective way to achieve preferred land uses. This paper studies bidder behavior in an innovative auction-based program in which farmers compete to sell and retire the right to develop their land. We derive a reduced-form bidding model that includes private and common values. This model allows us to estimate the role of bidder competition, winner's curse correction, and the underlying distribution of private values. We estimate that the auction enrolled as many as 3,000 acres (12%) more than a take-it-or-leave-it offer would have enrolled for the same budgetary cost. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper develops an analytical framework to examine how rural households in developing countries derive income from common-pool natural resource stocks. The focus is on how three types of private assets--land, livestock, and human capital--and one household characteristic--its size--interact with the natural assets to form the basis of household livelihood strategies. Predictions of the model are tested using purpose-collected data from rural households in Jhabua, India. Implications of our results for the potential of improved natural resource management to alleviate poverty are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Habitat fragmentation is widely considered a primary threat to biodiversity. In this paper, we analyze incentive-based policies designed to reduce forest fragmentation in the coastal plain region of South Carolina. Our approach integrates an econometric model of land use with simulations that predict the spatial pattern of land-use change. We analyze how subsidies for afforestation affect distributions defined over fragmentation metrics and derive the marginal costs of altering landscape patterns. We find the costs of reducing fragmentation vary greatly with initial landscape conditions and that a simple uniform subsidy performs well relative to a more complicated spatially targeted policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we study starting-point bias in double-bounded contingent valuation surveys. This phenomenon arises in applications that use multiple valuation questions. Indeed, response to follow-up valuation questions may be influenced by the bid proposed in the initial valuation question. Previous researches have been conducted in order to control for such an effect. However, they find that efficiency gains are lost when we control for undesirable response effects, relative to a single dichotomous choice question. Contrary to these results, we propose a way to control for starting-point bias in double-bounded questions with gains in efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims at characterizing water demand by Brazilian manufacturing plants and at assessing the potential impacts of environmental policies on industrial water use. We first show that the price elasticity of the water demand, -1.0 on average, is high enough for a water charge to act as an effective policy tool for reducing water consumption. Results also provide some evidence of a tradeoff between water quality improvement and water conservation policies, since more stringent environmental standards may lead to a higher water demand. A joint use of environmental norms and water charges may reconcile both policy goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the effects of community characteristics on compliance levels-emissions relative to effluent limits--at polluting facilities. In particular, it examines both direct effects and indirect effects: the second type of effects represents the linking of two related effects: (1) effects of community characteristics on regulatory decisions to intervene against specific facilities with inspections and penalties; and (2) effects of regulatory interventions on facility compliance levels. Estimation reveals (1) community characteristics significantly affect both regulatory interventions and facility performance; (2) direct effects and indirect effects are generally comparable in magnitude: and (3) total effects are economically meaningful. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines how the oil and gas industry responds to changes in environmental and land use regulations pertaining to drilling by examining differences in regulatory practices on federal and private land. A simulation model for Wyoming is used to estimate losses of oil and gas output over the next 60 years because of higher drilling costs found on federal property. The present value of these losses comes to about $800 million. Also, this case study is of interest because it shows that future production is more sensitive to changes in environmental regulations that apply to drilling than to changes in severance taxes levied on production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

John Locke's theory of property, described in his Second Treatise on civil Government, exerts a strong but often unacknowledged influence on environmental economics, providing justification for many of our discipline's norms and practices. This paper examines how Locke's Enlightenment-era thesis has informed our understanding of the relation of the individual and the state to environmental amenities. While Locke has been used to justify a libertarian view that treats any form of environmental regulation as a "taking," elements of Locke's original argument can be understood to subject individual rights claims to constraints requiring intra- and intergenerational sufficiency and sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a new approach to benefit transfer. The method assumes a specific form for preferences and uses available benefit information to identify and calibrate the preference parameters to match the existing benefit estimates. This approach assures economic consistency of the transfers. Benefit measures can never be inconsistent with household income. The logic also offers a series of potentially observable "predictions" that can be used to gauge the plausibility of benefit transfers. When multiple benefit estimates from different methods are available such as hedonic property value, travel cost demand, and contingent valuation, the framework uses the definition of the benefit concept from each method in a single preference function to reconcile differences. It provides a specific way to take account of baseline conditions and scope effects (i.e., the size of the proposed change) consistently in the transfer. The method is illustrated using estimates for benefit measure changes in water quality from three studies: travel cost demand, hedonic property value, and contingent valuation analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the relationship between environmental regulations and the location decisions of hazardous waste management firms. This industry provides a powerful test of the effect of state environmental regulations on location because environmental regulations on location because environmental regulations significantly affect the cost of providing waste management. The results indicate that state spending on environmental programs can deter firms, as does potential public opposition. Spending affects the implementation and enforcement of regulations and thus is very important in firms' location choices. Hazardous waste management firms do not appear to be deterred by the stringency of regulations, but instead are attracted to more comprehensive policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Welfare change estimates obtained from discrete-response contingent valuation experiments normally assume a particular distribution of willingness-to-pay (WTP). Using conventional microeconomy theory, we derive upper and lower bounds on such estimates. These bounds are interpreted statistically in terms of non-parametric estimators of mean WTP and its variance. Two contingent valuation surveys illustrate the proposed bounds, and the performances of the variance estimators are scrutinized with a Monte Carlo simulation. All calculations can be made by hand, .simplifying communication among those involved in interpreting results from contingent valuation studies using discrete-response data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present the first study that examines the effects of publication selection in the literature estimating the income elasticity of water demand. Paradoxically, more affected by publication selection are the otherwise preferable estimates that control for endogeneity. Attempting to correct simultaneously for publication and endogeneity biases, we find that the mean underlying elasticity is approximately 0.15 or less. The result is robust to controlling for more than 30 characteristics of the estimates and accounting for model uncertainty. The differences in the reported estimates are systematically driven by differences in the tariff structure, regional coverage, data granularity, and control for temperature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most comparative studies find that the discrete-choice contingent valuation method (DC-CVM) yields higher willingness-to-pay (WTP) estimates than the open-ended (OE) format. In this paper, we discuss and test several hypotheses to explain why WTP estimates from OE and DC-CVM questions differ. We find that WTP estimates from discrete-choice data are very sensitive to assumptions made about the random utility. In particular, violation of the homoscedasticity assumption may lead to biased WTP estimates if the error terms are correlated with the cost. This violation was a main source of difference in WTP estimates in our studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that the belief that discrete contingent valuation (CV) questions yield substantially larger estimates of the mean (and the median] willingness to pay (WTP) for nonmarket resources in comparison to open-ended CV questions is unfounded. Monte Carlo experiments estimate the factors influencing the performance of WTP estimates based on discrete response models. Most of the error arises from the specification errors common to the empirical models in the literature. These experiments suggest models where WTP is dominated by nonuse (or passive use) values are likely to have smaller errors than where large use values influence these decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We are concerned with the definition of choice set used in Random Utility Models of recreation demand. In particular, we are concerned with the spatial boundaries used to define choice sets. In this paper, using a model of day-trip fishing in Maine, we examine the sensitivity of parameter and welfare estimates to changes in the spatial boundary. We find that there exists some threshold distance beyond which adding more sites to the choice set has negligible effects on the estimation result [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we analyze the exploitation of wildlife in a Third World context. In the model there are two agents: an agency managing a habitat area of mixed size and a group of peasants. The agency managing the habitat area has the legal right to exploit the wildlife, while the local people hunt illegally. Introducing the concept of relative harvesting dominance, we demonstrate that the stock utilization depends crucially on the prevailing economic and ecological conditions. It is also shown that the existing property-rights regime appears in different forms depending on these conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Very little study has been made of the welfare cost of toxic contamination in freshwater fish, primarily because appropriate data sets have not been available. This paper estimates the benefits of removing toxic contamination from New York State water bodies by linking the Environmental Protection Agency's Aquatic Based Recreation Survey with water-quality data from the New York Department of Environmental Conservation. Using a repeated discrete choice model of fishing behavior, we find that the elimination of toxic contamination from New York lakes and ponds would generate an annual benefit of about $63 per capita, per season. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Potential double counting across generations has led some opponents of the contingent valuation method to claim that non-use values should be eliminated from benefit estimates. This paper shows both theoretically and empirically that this conclusion is not warranted. Depending on individuals' perception of the feasibility of intergenerational transfers and the nature of interdependent preferences, stated willingness to pay for an environmental commodity may or may not include values that are double-counted. Paternalistic altruism and current overuse of a natural resource are shown theoretically to provide appropriate motives for bequest values which should be included in measures of environmental benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces model specifications that can be used to explain response incentive effects that might occur with discrete response contingent valuation data when follow-up responses are collected. The models allow for possible random response shocks, structural shifts in willingness to pay between payment questions and heteroskedasticity between and within responses. Three well-known contingent valuation survey datasets that include follow-up payment questions are used to empirically test the models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews research on nonmarket valuation. It seeks to gauge whether the methods are up to the tasks demanded of them and to identify new research priorities. The evaluation suggests that we can outline a protocol for implementing and using the methods with some resources, while for other resources our experience is still developing. Because the demands for valuation information are increasing as just as our understanding of measurement methods is advancing, the next step in development requires defining a systematic "commodity structure" for environmental services with the needs for valuation measures providing conceptual underpinnings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Heckman developed regression techniques to estimate behavioral relationships free of selection bias when samples are nonrandom. He suggests examining the sample selection rule that results in the nonrandom sample and adjusting for the bias by taking into account the probability of an individual being included in the sample. This paper presents a special case where the sample selection rule that determines the availability of data is known. Because the sample selection rule is known, the regression techniques recommended by Heckman axe not necessary in contingent valuation studies when samples are length biased. The problem of length-biased sampling has been addressed in the context of recreational surveys by Schreuder, Tyre, and James (1975), however applications have never appeared in the economics literature, and recent work (McDonald, Otis, and Becket 1986) has made the techniques more versatile and important for economists. The next section of the paper will outline the statistical techniques that have been developed to adjust the sampled, length-biased data. In order to demonstrate the impact that adjusting the data can have, the final section will use a willingness-to-pay survey conducted in Yellowstone National Park in 1985. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper continues the analysis of Lewis and Slade (forthcoming). It is assumed here that processing takes place after extraction and prior to sale, inputs other than ore enter the extraction and processing cost functions, taxes and subsidies can be applied at any stage of production, and tax effects are intertemporal (based on dynamic profit-maximizing calculations). The paper differs from Lewis and Slade (and most of the earlier literature on resource taxation) in allowing for less restrictive extraction and processing technologies, depletion effects (costs shifting up with cumulative extraction), less than complete recovery of the ore body, multiple grades, and multiple outputs (byproducts and coproducts). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]