Potential cost-effectiveness of incentive payment programs for the protection of non-industrial private forests

This study assesses the potential cost-effectiveness of incentive payment programs relative to traditional, top-down regulatory programs for biological conservation. We develop site-level estimates of the opportunity cost and non-monetized biological benefits of protecting biodiversity hotspots in F...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Land economics 2007-11, Vol.83 (4), p.539-560
Main Authors: Siikamaki, J, Layton, D.F
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biodiversity
Biodiversity conservation
Conservation
conservation areas
Cost analysis
Cost-effectiveness
Environmental economics
environmental protection
Forest conservation
Forest habitats
Forest management
Forests
Habitat conservation
Incentives
Land economics
Land use
Landowners
laws and regulations
Old growth forests
Opportunity costs
private lands
Private property
Regulation
Statistical analysis
subsidies
Wildlife conservation
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Summary:This study assesses the potential cost-effectiveness of incentive payment programs relative to traditional, top-down regulatory programs for biological conservation. We develop site-level estimates of the opportunity cost and non-monetized biological benefits of protecting biodiversity hotspots in Finnish non-industrial private forests. We then use these estimates to contrast and compare the cost-effectiveness of alternative conservation programs. Our results suggest that incentive payment programs, which tacitly capitalize on landownersÂ’ private knowledge about the opportunity costs of conservation, may be considerably more cost-effective than traditional, top-down regulatory programs. (JEL Q23)
ISSN:0023-7639
1543-8325
DOI:10.3368/le.83.4.539