Alejandro Caparrós

Would You Choose Your Preferred Option? Comparing Choice and Recoded Ranking Experiments

Previous research has shown that results from a choice experiment are statistically different from those obtained from a ranking experiment that is recoded and treated as a choice experiment using only the first rank. By avoiding some of the shortcomings of previous comparisons, we obtain the opposite results using data from the valuation of a cork oak reforestation program in the south of Spain. Structural models and welfare estimations are statistically indistinguishable irrespective of the use of parametric or bootstrapping tests. Further, we employ follow-up questions and subsample analysis to test whether divergences appear when potential effects are isolated. Copyright 2008, Oxford University Press.

Contingent Valuation of Woodland-Owner Private Amenities in Spain, Portugal, and California

Abstract Most of the Mediterranean woodlands in Spain, Portugal, and California are managed as agrosilvopastoral enterprises, producing some combination of livestock, wood, cork products, and crops, as well as wildlife habitat and diverse environmental services. Private amenity benefits to landowners have been suggested as an explanation for high land prices and the persistence of such rangeland enterprises despite apparently marginal cash returns. In this study, private amenity values are estimated using a contingent valuation technique in surveys of private woodland owners as part of five case studies, using a design developed to separate landowner amenity income and capital values. Nonindustrial private landowners were asked about the maximum amount of money that they were willing to give up (to pay) before selling their property to invest in more commercially profitable assets, and the proportion of the market price of their woodland that they think is explained by privately consumed amenities. Amenity values were found to be relevant because, in all cases, landowners were willing to pay > €120 · ha−1 · yr−1, at 2002 prices, and attributed > 30% of land market price to amenities. These values represent an amenity profitability rate > 2% in all case studies. The data analysis shows some similarities, but mostly divergences, in the different land-simulated and amenity-simulated markets.

An operative framework for total hicksian income measurement: application to a multiple-use forest.

A methodology for estimating total hicksian income in multiple-use forests is presented. The approach consistently incorporates commercial as well as non-commercial economic values and enables the measurement of national accounting aggregates taking into account variation in man-made and natural capital. Innovative solutions are developed (i) for the estimation of non-market values, such as recreation, where an attempt to determine exchange values has been made simulating markets, (ii) for timber, where standing timber valuation methods have been extended to cover uneven stands, and (iii) for carbon fixation valuation, where only permanently fixed carbon after 1990 has been taken into account. The methodology is applied to a multiple-use pinewood in the Guadarrama mountains, near Madrid (Spain). Timber, cattle grazing, hunting, recreation, carbon fixation and conservation values are measured and integrated in the accounting system, using primary microeconomic data from the case study. Results indicate the importance of non-commercial income, which accounts for 51% of the total income, and the social relevance of the analysed forest, implying that only 31% of the total income generated is appropriated by the forest owner.

Comparing payment-vehicle effects in contingent valuation studies for recreational use in two protected Spanish forests.

We compare two alternative payment-vehicles for contingent valuation studies to estimate economic recreational values. We analyze the potential effects of each wording to determine the most appropriate vehicle. Four contingent valuation surveys, carried out in two different protected Spanish forests, are compared. In each forest, one contingent valuation survey used entrance-fees and the other used an increase in trip-expenditures as payment-vehicles. As expected, results show statistically significant differences and great divergences between estimations, some three times higher in the second type. These differences remain, regardless of the format and the estimation technique used. The tests suggest that the second type approximates better welfare values for recreation.

Influence of carbon dioxide abatement and recreational services on optimal forest rotation

This paper presents and applies a theoretical framework to integrate the influence of carbon dioxide abatement as well as recreational services on the optimal bio-economic determination of forest rotation. Recreational services are included in the standard way proposed by Hartman, but carbon fixation benefits are introduced in a different manner to previous studies, concentrating on total permanent carbon fixation produced by the forest. This framework is then applied to a case study in Spain, with a long-rotation indigenous species and in an area with important additional benefits. In the application, the ancillary benefit studied is recreation, but the framework could also be applied to include biodiversity values within the benefits of a given forest alternative. Data are obtained for Scots Pine in the Sierra de Guadarrama (Spain). A timber yield function specifically developed for the area is used. Carbon fixation is estimated for the whole biomass produced, taking into account carbon stored in deposits before being released. Recreational values associated with different age stands are determined by means of a contingent valuation study and photographs representing different age stands rated by visitors.

Measuring total sustainable incomes from multifunctional management of Corsican Maritime Pine and Andalusian Cork oak Mediterranean forests

Abstract Enough advances have recently been made in income accounting theory to recommend that environmental services accruing either to the forest owner or to the general public should be included in the forest accounting system. In this study, the results of two case studies, one in Bonifatu, Corsica (France) and the other in Alcornocales, Andalusia (Spain), show that private environmental services provide the majority share of social total sustainable income in Alcornocales (29%), whereas public environmental services are the most relevant in Bonifatu (32%). The social total sustainable income measured by the agroforestry accounting system is, respectively, 1.6 and 2.4 times higher than the income estimated by economic accounts for forestry in Alcornocales and Bonifatu forests.

Accounting for carbon in avoided degradation and reforestation programmes in Mediterranean forests

After reviewing the Kyoto Protocol rules for carbon sequestration accounting and the different carbon accounting methods proposed in the literature for forest management, for reforestation and, more recently, for avoided deforestation or degradation, we discuss possible carbon accounting rules for a post-Kyoto world. We then apply the results of this discussion to micro-applications in an Annex I country (Spain) and in a non-Annex I country (Tunisia), comparing avoided degradation with reforestation alternatives. In both areas we focus on Mediterranean forest, one of the worlds hotspots of biodiversity. We calculate CO 2 break-even prices, including in the analysis not only commercial values, but also, where these are relevant, existing subsidies. We also investigate social preferences for avoided degradation and reforestation using stated preference methods. Our results support the convenience of a change in focus for European Union subsidies from reforestation to avoided degradation.

Economics of Ecosystem Services

A better appreciation of the value of ecosystem services produced on private lands opens the door to programs that offer incentives to landowners and managers for specific conservation and production practices. This chapter reviews studies of ecosystem services provided by oak woodlands in California and Spain, focusing on those that may be difficult to quantify and value, and therefore are often undervalued in decision-making processes drawing on economic analysis. We first examine how ecosystem services are defined and valued, and then review research done from an economic perspective in California ranch and Spanish dehesa oak woodlands. We conclude with a brief exploration of differences in institutions and policies that bear on oak woodland ecosystem services in these two regions. The next step in ecosystem service valuation and use in policy is to extend case studies and to undertake analyses at the regional, state, and nation-wide scales. Despite scientific advances, the need for preservation of the natural capital of oak woodlands and the many ecosystem services the woodlands provide is far from fully recognized by society. An important future policy task will be incorporating payments for provision of biodiversity and ecosystem services into agricultural, water, energy, and other policies.

Forming coalitions to negotiate North–South climate agreements

This paper analyzes North-South negotiations over climate change abatement. We consider that northern countries have an incentive to negotiate over a transfer to the southern countries in exchange for their abatement efforts rather than reducing their emissions at home. We study the incentives for northern and southern countries to form negotiation-coalitions at each side of the bargaining table and the impact of these negotiation-coalitions on the final outcome. We show that the incentives can be separated into direct efficiency gains, as fixed costs savings, and indirect bargaining power gains. Depending on the relative values of these gains, we determine the equilibrium of the game. We also show that bargaining power gains encourage southern countries to negotiate separately while they encourage northern countries to unite, and that this hinders the formation of the grand coalition.

Spatial Valuation of Forests’ Environmental Assets: An Application to Andalusian Silvopastoral Farms

We develop a model that estimates spatially allocated environmental asset values for the simultaneous provision of seven ecosystem services. We examine the effect of heterogeneous spatial and economic factors on asset figures, and identify potential forestry abandonment problems when continuing with forestry activity becomes unprofitable for the landowner. Our results show a relevant spatial variability according to forest species distribution and structure. We examine potential trade-offs among silvopastoral provisioning services, water, and carbon sequestration services. Results forecast the abandonment of forestry activity and quantify the significant impact of discount rates and prices on asset values. (JEL Q23, Q51)