The most common method of estimating the economic demand for and value of recreational resources is the Hotelling-Clawson approach. This methodology developed as an empirical technique and was never adequately founded upon a conceptual analysis of the decision to recreate. In response to this lack of a theoretical foundation alternative...
Published May 1976. Facts and recommendations in this publication may no longer be valid. Please look for up-to-date information in the OSU Extension Catalog: http://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalog
The travel cost method of deriving demand and value of recreation
does not include fixed costs of recreational durable goods purchases
or allow for supply restrictions on the number of suitable
sites available. The omission of these two real-world situations
results in derivation of demand curves which are more inelastic...
Resource managers and decisionmakers must often decide how to allocate and manage conflicting uses of scarce natural resources. In many cases, one use of a natural resource precludes alternative uses of the same resource. In order to make informed decisions regarding the allocation and management of such scarce natural resources,...
Objective of this study was to compare accuracy of
several travel cost methods, by employing Monte Carlo
simulations in the single site framework. Estimates from
five methods were compared to the "true" travel cost
coefficient and "true" consumer surplus. Each method was
ranked, using the root mean squared error (RMSE)...
As recreation and tourism visitation increases and government budgets decrease, public
land management agencies are using private commercial operators as an alternative
source of offering products and services. Changes and trends in commercial outdoor
recreation and tourism such as a large scale increase in the number of visitors can affect...
Published October 1956. Facts and recommendations in this publication may no longer be valid. Please look for up-to-date information in the OSU Extension Catalog: http://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalog
The concept of ecosystem services broadens perspectives on nature to include not only intrinsic value but also the utilitarian value it provides to society. Viewing nature through this lens informs our understanding of how particular ecological processes benefit different actors. In this research, I examine how water utilities in the...
Since harvest levels of many of the world's fisheries are not likely to increase in
the foreseeable future, resource managers and seafood processors need to develop
improved strategies to maximize the utilization and benefits of current catches. In
addition to increasing utilization and benefits, seafood processors are subject to the...
Encouraged by successes such as pollution trading and fishery catch-shares, “markets for ecosystem services” (MES) are being promoted to foster conservation. In many cases, however, conditions do not exist for successful use of MES, and costly taxpayer-funded payment schemes could deplete fiscal resources and compete with schools and public safety.
This study examined one refinery product, residual fuel oil, and
analyzed changes that have occurred in its production and consumption
in the United States through time, with the objective of explaining why
the quantities and qualities of residual fuel produced, imported, and
used in different times and places have varied....
Published November 1977. Facts and recommendations in this publication may no longer be valid. Please look for up-to-date information in the OSU Extension Catalog: http://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalog
Vehicle miles traveled (VMT) in the U.S. have exhibited an upward trend over time similar to that observed for GDP and personal income. While conventional wisdom suggests that economic growth leads to more driving and thus higher VMT, it is theoretically possible that the causation could also be the other...
This study seeks to explore the determinants of the relationship of economic growth and water quality in the United States using an Environmental Kuznets Curve framework. Specifically this study seeks to determine whether there is evidence of improvement in water quality since passage of the 1972 amendments to the Clean...
The publicly subsidized Federal Crop Insurance Program has expanded rapidly in recent decades in the United States. With the reform in the 2014 Farm Bill, the Federal Crop Insurance Program has become the most important component of U.S. farm policies. The primary goal of the program is to provide risk...
The increased US domestic production of surimi from the US Pacific Coast after 1977 is a major consequence of the US's extended fisheries jurisdiction to 200 nautical miles. It is only one consequence, however, whose nature can best be understood by examining the surimi market in the context of what...
Published May 1964. Facts and recommendations in this publication may no longer be valid. Please look for up-to-date information in the OSU Extension Catalog: http://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalog
In the study of rebuilding and recovery after natural disasters in the United States, little attention is paid to understanding how and why people rebuild following recurring, small-scale events, like wildfire. Hazard and risk literature, instead, is focused on understanding how larger communities with greater resources, economics, and social capital,...
Published April 1988. Facts and recommendations in this publication may no longer be valid. Please look for up-to-date information in the OSU Extension Catalog: http://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalog
Published May 1963. Facts and recommendations in this publication may no longer be valid. Please look for up-to-date information in the OSU Extension Catalog: http://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalog
This dissertation consists of two essays that address code-sharing alliances in the U.S. domestic airline industry.
The first essay examines the economic impact of code-sharing using data from the complementary code-sharing agreement between Southwest and ATA Airlines. This code-share agreement is found to decrease air fares and increase passenger volumes...
Innovativeness, or the propensity of a firm to create and/or adopt new products, process and business systems, has been measured using several methods in previous research. Examples of theses methods include current technology, self-evaluation, research and development funding, the number of new products, and intellectual property. In addition to the...
This study investigates the share of open space that maximizes total private property values in urban areas. Open space poses a number of trade-offs to city managers. On the one hand, previous studies have shown that certain kinds of open space can increase property values, which tends to increase tax...
Firms' participation in exporting or foreign direct investment is an extremely rare behavior: only 4 percent of over 5.5 million U.S. firms were exporters in 2000. Exporters are generally larger (e.g. output and employment) and more productive than firms serving only domestic markets. Such heterogeneity within a narrowly defined industry...
Why do rural households leave for urban places? And how does this
decision affect their economic well-being? Rural places in the United States have higher poverty and unemployment rates and lower levels of educational attainment relative to urban places. Does leaving a rural place for a city offer a pathway...
The U.S. farm sector has undergone dramatic structural change during the
past fifty years, a chief result being that the number of large farms has increased
relative to the number of small farms. Numerous agricultural policies have been
instituted, with the partial objective of preserving the family farm. At the...
This exploratory study posited that being in an insecure marriage would increase marital conflict and perceived relational aggression when the couple is experiencing economic constraints. The cross-sectional design assessed two groups of marriages: secure and insecure. A structural equation model using multiple group comparison tested the effect of each type...
Published November 1980. Facts and recommendations in this publication may no longer be valid. Please look for up-to-date information in the OSU Extension Catalog: http://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalog
The biorevolution in the 1970’s greatly stimulated investment in life-science
research. The present dissertation is aimed at evaluating the impact of US public
investment on industrial investment in life-science research. The focus is on three major
life-science fields: biology, medicine, and agriculture. A dynamic model of industrial
R&D investment is...
The United States Congress set out to increase the blending of biofuels by updating and implementing the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS2) in 2007. The new mandate required that a combination of 36 billion gallons of ethanol, biodiesel, and cellulosic biofuel be blended annually, by 2022. To offset the cost of...
The US airline industry is going through a period of consolidation through mergers between leading airlines. A number of recent mergers have been approved by the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice (DOJ) based on the presence of Southwest Airlines in merger-affected markets. In doing so, the DOJ makes...
Regression analysis was used to examine the effect of a change in agricultural prices on land use and conservation. The planted acreage for each of three crops – corn, soybeans, and spring wheat – was regressed on the expected prices of the three crops,
the input prices, and past land...
Increased efficiency of household energy-using appliances effectively lowers the price of the services these devices provide. Basic consumer theory predicts that ceteris paribus, these lower prices will increase usage, thus making the effect on total energy demand ambiguous. In the literature, this phenomenon
has been called the rebound effect. In...
This study is an economic analysis of enrollment demand for
graduate education at Oregon State University as well as in the United
States. For the analysis of Oregon State University data on new
graduate enrollment, data were obtained for 27 academic departments
with 10 observations per department. The most important...
Location is a critical component of business decisions. A firm's location decision may be influenced not only by market forces, such as the location of input suppliers, output processors and competitors, but also by government policies if such policies impact their expected profits and are applied non-uniformly across space. Likewise,...
During the last five years, interest in productivity-based group incentive plans for mill operations in the forest products industry has increased. In a 1983 monograph in this series titled "Company /Employee Gainsharing Programs," Michael B. McKay anticipated this trend. In that monograph, he defined "gainsharing" as a "group incentive plan."...
The purpose of this multi-case study was to describe how library deans and directors at large comprehensive community colleges strategically advocate for and support instructional and technological innovation despite the reality of limited resources and the stress caused by recurring funding crises in higher education. It further sought to examine...
Many non-native weed pests of food, fiber, and nursery crops pose threats to U.S. environment and agriculture. Noxious weed regulations play an important role in preventing the introduction and spread of non-native plants, thereby protecting the local biodiversity, environment and economic activities. However, these regulations could also hamper agricultural trade....
Many economists believe that the slowdown of the productivity growth rates in the U.S. economy in early 1970's was a consequence of the increased level of environmental regulations. The main reason presented in support of this argument is that increased environmental regulations impose an additional burden to the firms, thus...
Export-oriented illegal logging has been recognized as a major global problem in environmental, social, and economic terms. It has been argued that export-oriented illegal logging does not benefit the community or government that should be benefited by its own natural resources. The emergence of policy initiatives targeting illegal logging could...