The community and leasehold forestry regimes (CF and LF regimes) are high priority programmes that are designed by the Nepalese government to conserve forests and reduce poverty through the introduction of formal institutions in terms of legal property rights and governance structures and processes. However, little is known about the mechanisms through which informal and formal institutions influence resource access of the poor under these regimes. By employing a collective case study approach, this research provides some understanding of the mechanisms through which formal and informal institutional factors influence access of the poor to forest resources governed under the CF and LF regimes in Nepal. This study found that informal institutional factors significantly influence the impact of formal institutions irrespective of the regime that was imposed on the Nepalese hill communities. It was revealed that where more than one social group co-exist in a community, discriminatory sociocultural norms (for example patriarchal and caste-based norms), and customary property rights favour one social group over others. As a result, certain social groups have greater access to resources and benefits from the resources than do other social groups. Of particular significance, and not previously reported, the lack of prior experience in collective action of the low castes along with their weak social networks and poor leadership ability is highlighted as being directly linked to their relatively limited access to forest resources. When the Bista system, a specific type of a traditional bridging social network is eroded, the low castes end up with less access due to removal of support from the high castes. This study shows that a more inclusive regime (for example CF regime) is likely to lead to more effective outcomes for the livelihood of the poor as compared to a more exclusive regime (e.g. LF regime). When the powerful are included in the forest user group (FUG), along with the poor, there is less resistance to the shift in property rights and the improved access of the poor to forest benefits that the regimes are intended to achieve. However, it was found that active participation is more determinant of resource access than is a specified set of property rights granted by right of membership in a FUG. Although some FUG governance structures provide a forum where the disadvantaged members of the FUGs have the right to participate in decision making, their participation is constrained by discriminatory sociocultural norms. Further, this study revealed that the decision-making processes dominated by the elites tend to address the needs of the disadvantaged members to only a very limited extent. However, improving capacities has the potential to enhance participation of disadvantaged members in the processes. The research findings suggest that informal institutions must explicitly be considered in the design and implementation of CBNRM regimes in order for them to be successful in improving livelihoods of the poor. The implementing staff need support mechanisms for changing their own attitudes and behaviours to those that are more favourable to the social shift that the regimes are intended to bring about. CBNRM regimes have the potential to improve the livelihoods of the poor, but research must continue on how this can be achieved.

Marine Protected Area (MPA), as a fisheries management tool has been promoted by both national and local conservationists and has provided de facto illustrations of integrated coastal management (ICM) in the Philippines. However, conflict is inevitable in the implementation of public policy such as the MPA because of contrasting objectives and expectations from various stakeholders. Coupled with non-human (e.g. MPA size) and human (e.g. mismanagement) threats, conflict becomes a hindrance to MPA effectivity. In the Philippines alone, only 10-20% of the 500 MPAs are attaining their objectives. This study presents an overview of MPA management and examines the interaction between the civil society and market forces of institutional arrangements in the case of North-Eastern Iloilo (NI) in the Philippines. It discusses overall scenarios that resemble conflict between various national, local and international sectors, assessing MPA success factors and the expected implications from such implementation. Results from key informant, focus-group discussion and social survey show that there are problems on MPA management in the region. Using data and strategic analyses, it presents that minimisation of conflicts amongst actors should be the primary goal of the NI municipalities. In addition, MPA size and membership to organisations are also significant factors of success. Moreover, the analysis from a simple correlation to complex Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Canonical Correlation Analysis (CCA) conclude that information on MPA regulation does not directly contribute to the improvement in MPA management. It implies that a focus on informing stakeholders about the benefits of having an MPA and its regulations is ineffective. The focus should be on the reduction of conflict between economic actors - for free riding problems are currently occurring, thus minimising conflict by conflict resolution and proper incentives. However, there are still remaining challenges on MPA management, for not all factors are incorporated on this study. The challenge now is on how to identify the remaining factors and integrate them into policies and implementations to improve the overall condition of coastal communities.

The management of congestible recreation resources has been based largely on the concept of satisfaction. This concept is poorly defined and often does not reflect objectives for management of recreation resources. One way of addressing these problems is to define and use measurable objectives for management of recreation resources. One such objective is economic efficiency. The concept of efficiency is defined and economic theory developed to identify efficient allocations of congestible resources, the efficient capacities of resources under different allocation mechanisms, and the efficiency costs of use of lottery-based allocation mechanisms. The usefulness of this body of economic theory in allocation of backcountry recreational resources is addressed through investigation of ability to measure demand for congestible resources, and the problems associated with use of surrogate measures of demand. Theoretical models of efficient management of congestible resources cannot be applied with the current state of knowledge because existing non-market valuation methods are not able to identify Hicksian-compensated demand functions for congestible backcountry recreation. Use of Marshallian demand measures introduces the possibility of resource misallocations of unknown direction and magnitude.

<p>The overarching theme of this research is about environmental microplastic pollution, and how much various entities are willing to sacrifice economically to obtain a cleaner environment. To gauge such willingness, this research utilizes various economic measures that have been widely used, albeit with novel modifications. The focus of this research is on stated preferences about microplastic pollution. The topic of microplastics is still very novel, and market players on the demand side or on the supply side have yet to provide products that deal with this new pollutant. This lack has necessitated the need for stated preference research. This research delves into this novel environmental problem from various viewpoints.</p> <p> Chapter 1 of this research is about how much the US adult population is willing to sacrifice to obtain an environment that is less impacted by microplastic pollution. The results show that US adults in general possess a willingness to obtain an environment free from microplastics. However, a sizable minority of US adults do not show such willingness as well. Such results remained true even when information about microplastic pollution were provided to all respondents before preference elicitation. </p> <p> Chapter 2 investigates how much consumers in different countries will diverge about their willingness to pay for seafood that has less microplastic contamination. The countries chosen differed widely in their seafood consumption habits. Thus, it was hypothesized that such differences will lead to contrasts in their willingness to pay for less contaminated seafood. The hypothesis was found to be true but not in the way that was expected. The results show that frequent consumers of seafood had less willingness to pay when compared to others, although in whole all consumers showed willingness to avoid microplastics in their seafood. </p> <p> Chapter 3 makes use of the same data as Chapter 2 but looks at possible reasons for the disparity in responses besides factors explored in Chapter 2. Chapter 3 focuses on the cultural differences to explain the differences in behavior. To do so, it utilizes the Value-Belief-Norm theory widely employed in past research but modifies it to account for a form of hypothetical bias. The research delves into the relationships between many factors of interest that affect environmentally friendly consumption behavior and the findings show that a certain cultural tendency is central to such behavior, at least for microplastics. </p> <p> The research has done its best to research into the economic relationship between microplastic contamination of the environment and how much various individuals are willing to sacrifice to obtain an environment that is less impacted by such pollution. The findings here show that there is room for improvement in the way the microplastic pollution problem is being handled. However, in all settings the results show that a sizable majority want to be less impacted by microplastic pollution, a key takeaway for all interested parties.</p>

<p>Chapter 1: Currently there is no hunting or trapping season on bobcats in Indiana. While a season is being considered by wildlife administrators, there is no basis for establishing a price or understanding potential demand for this species. We use contingent valuation to estimate furbearer hunter and trapper willingness-to-pay (WTP) for a hypothetical bobcat harvest permit in Indiana, USA. Using a mail survey of 2000 randomly selected Indiana registered hunters and trappers, we presented respondents with a description of a hypothetical harvest season, including season dates, equipment restrictions, check-in procedures, counties open for the legal harvest, bag limit (the number of animals that can be legally harvested per individual), and statewide quota (the number of animals that can be legally harvested in aggregate). Following the description, respondents were asked a single-bounded dichotomous choice question about purchasing the proposed permit. By applying the Turnbull estimation method to our collected data, we estimate mean WTP of $21.73 for the proposed permit. Our estimates are sensitive to scope effects, which may be linked to perceived congestion: if hunters believe the bag limit may not be filled, WTP may actually decrease with the bag limit due to perceived congestion, necessitating the simultaneous examination of the bag limit and statewide quota.</p> <p><br></p> <p>Chapter 2: One Health initiatives employed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention place emphasis on the interconnectedness of animals, people, plants, and the environment. As new disease threats emerge, the interactions of humans and animals with their environments becomes increasingly important. Deer represent a large, prolific, and suitable host for several diseases that are potentially threatening in the One Health context. Previous works have studied deer-related diseases, such as Bovine tuberculosis and Lyme Disease, and examined risks of transmission in households of varying compositions, such as with and without pets or children. However, research quantifying public perceptions of deer and their role(s) in modern society is lacking. Our research applies social media listening to study perceptions of deer among the general U.S. population through volume (number of mentions) and assessment of tone, in terms of positivity versus negativity (analyzed as online media net sentiment). We study media about five prominent deer-related diseases from January 2018 through December 2021 and demonstrate that while aggregate mentions of the deer diseases we study compose a small proportion of total mentions for deer, net sentiment surrounding outbreaks reflects the seriousness of the health consequences these present. Additionally, we explain fluctuations in deer-disease mentions and net sentiment through real-world events, and demonstrate seasonality in mentions and net sentiment for some diseases of interest. Better understanding of public perceptions of the roles of wildlife, particularly deer who are generally perceived as non-threatening wildlife, is particularly important in today’s One Health context.</p> <p><br></p> <p>Chapter 3: The presence of deer in shared environments with humans may result in both positive and negative affinity towards deer. While literature shows deer-related damages to humans and their property, literature also suggests that deer are a way for humans to connect with nature. Managing deer populations is vital to balancing the positive and negative impacts of deer. Currently, hunting is the most cost-effective way to manage deer populations. We are interested in how hunting impacts the affinity for deer, in addition to how the COVID-19 pandemic plays a role in the perception of deer. Online media posts were analyzed using a social media listening platform, NetBase, for the time period of January 1, 2018 to December 31, 2021. Volume of mentions and affinity via net sentiment were collected at the state level on a weekly basis, and the national level on a daily basis. We utilize an OLS regression with dummies for deer hunting season and COVID at the state level to determine the impacts of hunting seasons and the pandemic on net sentiment. We find that deer hunting being open negatively impacts net sentiment of deer. We utilize Pearson correlations to study the impact of deer management via OTC deer hunting privilege issuance in relation to affinity for deer. We find that OTC privilege issuance is positively correlated with affinity for deer in some states, but the impact on affinity may diminish over time.</p>

<p>1st essay abstract:   </p> <p>This study investigates the economic rents of the wind energy industry in the U.S. and their economic impacts on local economies, using Benton and White counties in Indiana as study regions. By calibrating a partial equilibrium model using 2007-2010 data of the industry, we find a resource rent of $9.72/MWh. We then use a general equilibrium model with Dutch Disease features to study the optimal tax levied on this rent, and the economic impacts of redistributing the tax revenues back to the county residents. An exhaustive rent tax increases real county personal income by as high as 9.1% and as low as 2%, depending on the county’s features. Applying an incentive compatible resource rent tax rate and redistributing the revenues to the county’s laborers leads to an increase of 3.5% and 16% in their income in White and Benton counties, respectively. We also perform robustness checks by allowing labor mobility between counties to examine the impacts of resource rents on the county economy under endogenous labor growth. </p> <p>1st essay data: All data acquired comes from the U.S. Census Bureau, county Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory reports, the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, Indeed.com, news articles, and wind developers websites.</p> <p><br></p> <p>2nd essay abstract:   </p> <p>Using the Regional Energy Deployment System (ReEDS) model, we estimate the deadweight loss imposed by county-level wind power development restrictions in the form of increased electricity costs due to suboptimal siting. This is accomplished by optimizing the power system of the United States' Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) from 2020 to 2050. We perform the optimization with and without land-use constraints arising from simulated potential local ordinances restricting wind power development, and under multiple scenarios reflecting different renewable portfolio standards (RPS). We find that local restrictions on wind power increase the total system cost by 0.15%-0.3% and the wholesale electricity price by 1.8%-2.7%, depending on the RPS scenario. Changes in the generation and installed capacity mixes are more substantial and depend on both the level of county restrictions on wind power, and RPS requirements, thus indicating an interaction between RPS requirements and local wind power restrictions. We also find that plausible restrictions on wind development do not pose major barriers to meeting renewable energy targets in a cost-effective manner.</p> <p>2nd essay data: All data is embedded inside the Regional Energy Deployment System (ReEDS) model of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.</p> <p><br></p> <p>3rd essay abstract:   </p> <p>The USDA promotes adoption of conservation practices beneficial for soil health and environment through agricultural cost-share payment programs such as EQIP or CSP. Although the efficiency of these programs has been evaluated through additionality estimates, which represent the percentage of farmers who would adopt a practice only with payments, the potential complementarities between certain combinations of practices have often been overlooked. Unaccounted for, these complementarities may impact additionality estimates. This paper provides a thorough investigation of additionality estimates of common practices, including no-till, nutrient management and cover crops, accounting for potential complementarities between them. We find no significant differences between traditional additionality estimates and estimates accounted for potential complementarities between the three practices. The results thus indicate that despite agronomic evidence of synergies in co-adopting these three practices, we find no solid indication of adoption complementarity between them in reality. </p> <p>3rd essay data: Data is acquired from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Esri maps.</p>

<div>The purpose of this dissertation is to study the effectiveness of public policies in generating fuel savings and emissions reductions. I focus on applying various empirical methods to analyze consumer responses to policy changes on both extensive and intensive margins. This dissertation consists of two chapters.</div><div><br></div><div>In the first chapter, I compare the effectiveness of fuel taxes and product taxes on reducing gasoline consumption of new car buyers. I employ a unified data source for vehicle choice and subsequent vehicle use to estimate a random effects logit demand model that explicitly accounts for vehicle use heterogeneity. My demand estimation suggests that new car buyers fully value the fuel-saving benefits from improved vehicle fuel efficiency when they initially purchase their cars. My policy simulations indicate that high-mileage drivers are more responsive to a change in fuel taxes than to a change in product taxes, even as low-mileage drivers are more responsive to product taxes. By capturing such heterogeneous consumer response to policies, I show that a counterfactual increase of the fuel tax is more effective than a revenue-equivalent product tax in reducing the total gasoline consumption of new car buyers. Further, when accounting for its effects on consumer response on both extensive and intensive margins, a change in fuel taxes has a clear advantage over a change in product taxes in reducing the consumption of gasoline even when the magnitude of tax increase is small. More importantly, a model not accounting for vehicle use heterogeneity understates the fuel saving effects of both policies and misleads us about the relative effectiveness when comparing different policies. </div><div><br></div><div>The second chapter explores how changes in the marginal cost of driving affect consumers decisions about passenger vehicle utilization, as measured by average daily miles traveled per vehicle. This intensive margin of consumer response has important implications for the effectiveness of usage-based policies, such as the fuel tax and the mileage tax, that designed to address externalities of driving. I estimate the elasticity of driving with respect to fuel cost per mile using a large panel data that covers 351 towns and cities in Massachusetts over 24 quarters. While most researchers in this literature apply fixed effects estimators to examine the elasticity of driving, I use a factor model econometric setup to account for unobserved common factors and regional heterogeneity. Residual diagnostics confirm that the factor model setup does a better job of removing the cross-section dependence than fixed effects estimators do. Given low consumer responsiveness to changes in the marginal cost of driving engendered by current usage-based policies, rights-based approaches like congestion charges might be better alternatives to influence vehicle utilization and vehicle ownership.</div>

This thesis explores the theoretical basis of non-market valuation techniques; discusses in detail, the Contingent Valuation Method (CVM) and the Travel Cost Method (TCM); highlights the advantages and disadvantages of various non-market valuation techniques and their suitability under different conditions; and identifies the Contingent Valuation Method as the most appropriate non-market valuation technique to apply to Pekapeka Swamp, the case study site. The overall objective of the study is to apply the most appropriate non-market valuation technique to estimate the total economic value (TEV) of the restoration and preservation of Pekapeka Swamp and to test Hawke’s Bay Regional Council’s (HBRC) restoration programme for the Pekapeka Swamp using economic efficiency criteria. An appropriate contingent valuation mail survey questionnaire was designed to elicit responses to the dichotomous choice (DC) and open-ended valuation questions, and to collect socio-economic data and information on households’ attitude towards the environment. Responses to the survey questionnaire were analysed (using ordinary least squares regression for the open ended question, and logistic regression, for the DC question) to identify the factors that influence households’ willingness to pay (WTP) for the restoration and preservation of the Pekapeka Swamp and to estimate TEV. A number of functional forms of the logit and open-ended WTP models were fitted from which WTP functions were estimated. Households were asked a DC question followed by an open-ended question regarding the value they placed on the restoration and preservation of Pekapeka Swamp. Out of an initial mail-out of 958 questionnaires, an overall response rate of 46.13% was achieved after two follow-ups. Results from the final usable sample of 231, after removing protests and inconsistent responses, indicate that households in the Hawke’s Bay region would pay, on average, between NZ$30.00 and NZ$76.89 per annum for five years. Unit value ranges between NZ$17,898 and NZ$45,866 per hectare per year; and net present values for the restoration and preservation programme for Pekapeka Swamp based on our ‘best estimates’ range between NZ$5.05 million and NZ$18.20 million depending on the model and discount rate used.

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