TY - JOUR
T1 - Biological interactions and environmental effects in the economics of pest control
AU - Feder, G.
AU - Regev, U.
N1 - Funding Information:
1 Giannini Foundation Paper No. 404. 2 This research was supported in part by the National Science Foundation and the Environmental Protection Agency through a grant (NSF GB-34718/BMS 75-04223) to the University of California. The findings, opinions, and recommendations expressed herein are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the University of California, the National Science Foundation, or the Environmental Protection Agency. We are indebted to J. K. Oddson, whose constructive criticism substantially improved the quality of this paper. We also benefitted from the comments by G. Brown, R. Cummings, D. Hueth, A. Gutierrez, R. Norgaard, and G. Oster. The authors alone, however, are responsible for any remaining errors.
PY - 1975/1/1
Y1 - 1975/1/1
N2 - The problem of pest control is tackled in a context of an ecosystem that consists of prey-predator populations with human interaction through pesticide application. The control, aimed at reducing pest damage, results in two undesirable external effects: reduction of beneficial predator population and environmental contamination. The untapped natural equilibrium is compared with equilibrium resulting from decentralized and centralized economic decision making. It is shown that, under certain conditions, myopic decision rules increase rather than decrease the pest damage. The "user cost" (or benefit) is shown to be crucial in determining the optimal centralized policy, and its relations to the various components of the system are analyzed. The components of the user cost are analyzed to determine the level of taxes or subsidies that will yield the optimal policy.
AB - The problem of pest control is tackled in a context of an ecosystem that consists of prey-predator populations with human interaction through pesticide application. The control, aimed at reducing pest damage, results in two undesirable external effects: reduction of beneficial predator population and environmental contamination. The untapped natural equilibrium is compared with equilibrium resulting from decentralized and centralized economic decision making. It is shown that, under certain conditions, myopic decision rules increase rather than decrease the pest damage. The "user cost" (or benefit) is shown to be crucial in determining the optimal centralized policy, and its relations to the various components of the system are analyzed. The components of the user cost are analyzed to determine the level of taxes or subsidies that will yield the optimal policy.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0016656996&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/0095-0696(75)90001-7
DO - 10.1016/0095-0696(75)90001-7
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:0016656996
SN - 0095-0696
VL - 2
SP - 75
EP - 91
JO - Journal of Environmental Economics and Management
JF - Journal of Environmental Economics and Management
IS - 2
ER -