The purpose of this thesis is to examine what motivates nonindustrial private forest landowners to accept bids of various levels for harvesting. Through the use of a survey we specifically consider what preferences and landowner characteristics effect these decisions. Landowners were randomly selected from counties in Southwest Virginia. The participants were presented a payment table in which they were asked to indicate the level of certainty with which they would accept bids of various levels for their timber. The information obtained for the survey was used in a LOGIT model to examine which variables were most important both in determining the certainty respondents attached to different bid levels, and the likelihood of accepting a bid of any size. Our most important results show that factors such as bequest motives, tract size, absentee status, and environmental preferences influence the bid acceptance decision for landowners in the sample. / Master of Science

Despite all that has been written regarding NIPF landowners, there have not been any studies providing a clear examination of willingness to harvest using a range of harvesting prices. An interesting problem that has not been previously examined is the determination of the relationship between the decision to harvest and the characteristics of owners and their land, such as preferences, landowner type (absentee vs. resident), site qualities, that function in determining potential scale of harvesting activities. This study examines which of these characteristics are important in landowner decisions regarding timber harvesting. Landowner access to land and preferences regarding land use are important in the decision to forego harvesting, while landowner type (absentee vs. resident), access to land, and preferences regarding land use are important in determining scale activities. / Master of Science

This study models the timber market entry decisions of nonindustrial private landowners. It involves examining reservation prices both for harvesting timber from existing forest land and for afforestation of marginal agricultural and abandoned land. An important conclusion drawn from these models is that financial returns are not the only drivers of these decisions. Preferences for amenities derived from forests and farmland are also important. An empirical model follows which characterizes willingness to accept for various landowner groups in Virginia and Mississippi. We identify preferences and characteristics of landowners and features of forest sites that are important to the unobserved price specific to each landowner. Estimation results are also used to assess the size of payments needed to encourage harvesting or conversion from agricultural to forest uses with 50% probability. The determination of reservation prices for landowners in different regions aids in forecasting potential timber supplies from NIPF lands that are either actively managed for timber production or are not, as well as from marginal land not yet in forests, under different policy and pricing scenarios. Furthermore, it gives insight into evolving land use patterns. / Ph. D.

The estimation of afforestation reservation prices for small landowners in New Zealand has not been the subject of much research despite its importance in predicting future land use. Reservation prices for planting represent the minimum payment a landowner must receive before converting land from agriculture to forest. A survey of 728 landowners from every region of New Zealand who own between 20 and 200 hectares of forest as well as other unplanted land used for agriculture were surveyed about forestland, forest land owner demographics, ownership objectives, silviculture and reservation prices. In this study, reservation price strategies were investigated by offering hypothetical annual and one-time payments for converting land from agriculture to forestry. From this survey, the average one-time payment a landowner would be willing to accept to convert a hectare of land from agriculture to forestry was $3,554 and the average annual payment to convert a hectare of land was $360. The key factors influencing the reservation price were; whether or not the landowner lived on the property, if one of the ownership objectives was income from carbon, the primary agricultural enterprise and total household income. An implied discount rate was calculated for each landowner and excluding those who would not accept any payment the average after-tax discount rate was 9.7%. Small landowners indicated that their primary reason for owning plantation forest was income from timber with very few landowners using their forest land for recreation. The median farm size was 400 hectares and the median forest plantation was 37 hectares. Planting of radiata pine peaked in 1994 and 1995 with more radiata pine planted in 1994 than in all the years from 2000-2009. Most landowners are performing some type of silviculture in their forests. Ninety percent of landowners are pruning in the current rotation while only 61% plan to prune in the future. Only 26% of landowners have engaged in any commercial harvesting in the past ten years but as their current rotation matures 71% plan to replant on the same site. A majority of respondents thought the situation for forest landowners was getting better. Understanding the reservation price strategies of landowners is important for predicting future land use patterns and recognizing how close landowners are to converting land. The ownership objectives of landowners and the replanting decisions they make are critical for future timber supply. The results of this study can assist in the development of forest establishment incentive programmes. Better information about landowner characteristics will result in enhanced decision-making for the timber industry and the government in New Zealand.

搜尋理論是訊息經濟學中很重要的一部份，搜尋行為有助於決策約滿意度。本文研究的重點主要在於商品市場上的消費者價格搜尋、消費決策及其與政府課稅之間的關係。 在消費者採用連續搜尋，而且假設搜尋不可回溯，搜尋次數有限，價格分配已知時，搜尋決策其有保留價格的性質。以「向後求解」的方法，消費者可以得到各期之保留價格。保留價格是稟賦所得、搜尋成本、其他財貨價格、效用函數及價格分配型態的函數。假設其他條件不變，若稟賦所得減少，搜尋成本增加，則保留價格上升；隨著已搜尋約次數增加，保留價格跟著上升，亦即消費者在搜尋過程中會愈來愈願意接受較高的價格。 消費者從事搜尋行為時的保留價格和搜尋成本會對消費決策產生影響。保留價格不但決定停止搜尋的時機，也會影饗真正從事購買的價格；可以用來消費的淨所得因搜尋次數的多寡而增減，所以等於也受到保留價格的影響。外生變數變動會改變保留價格，進而間接影饗預期需求，包括改變可接受價格之範圍和停止搜尋機率；然而，同時也會直接影響需求函數，總合上述兩者才能決定對預期需求的影響為何，結果通常使預期需求增減不易判別。預期搜尋次數與保留價格成反向關係。 政府對需要搜尋的財貨課從量稅，使價格分配向右平移，保留價格會隨之上升，但上升的幅度不會剛好等於稅率。稅率愈高，保留價格上升幅度愈大。平均而言，消費者因為租稅轉嫁必須支付較高的價格，所以會減少需求，此為課稅的直接影響；再加上提高保留價格而封預期需求產生間接影響，結果需求增減不易確定。在政府追求社會福利極大且受限於固定稅收之下，得到價格訊息不完全的最適租稅法則，比價格確定時多出了社會搜尋效果，包括課稅對願接受價格上下限和停止搜尋機率的影響，主要是透過課稅改變保留價格來達成。 假若效用函數為 Cobb-Douglas 的型態，價格呈一致分配，則由模擬方析結果發現，課稅後需搜尋財貨預期需求量減少，不需搜尋財貨預期需求量增加，預期效用降低且搜尋次數減少。