Jon R. Miller

Determinants of Hunter Participation: Duck Hunting in the Mississippi Flyway

In this paper the authors study the relationship between habitat availability, hunter success, and the rate and intensity of participation in duck hunting in the Mississippi Flyway. Using socioeconomic data from the 1975 National Survey of Hunting, Fishing and Wildlife Associated Recreation, and waterfowl habitat data from the 1970 Flyway Habitat Management Unit Project, they estimate probability and intensity of participation equations for duck hunting. The analysis differs from previous population-specific recreation studies in (a) the narrowly defined activity, (b) more precise definition of supply variables, (c) use of variables representing distance to hunting sites, and (d) the use of logit analysis to estimate participation probability equations.

Flexibility, learning, and irreversibility in environmental decisions: a Bayesian approach

The Bayes decision is characterized and studied for a two-period decision problem involving a proposed resource development project. It is assumed that development is irreversible and that expectations about benefits and costs during the second period vary with experiences resulting from the first-period action. The amount and types of learning achieved depend upon the particular action taken during the first period. Flexible sequential decision procedures are compared with fixed once-and-for-all decisions. It is shown that under this specification, optimal development decisions are not necessarily more conservative when a sequential procedure is used. The possibility of reneging on a fixed decision is formally specified and studied.

Irreversible land use and the preservation of endangered species

Abstract An alternative derivation of the irreversibility concept, with an application to the preservation of endangered species, is presented in this paper. The analysis involves a standard intertemporal welfare maximization procedure and is interested in the allocation of land between the production of economic goods and the preservation of species. Conversion of habitat is assumed to be irreversible. It is shown that the existence of utility value for species stocks, combined with increasing severity of the irreversibility constraint implies less conversion of species habitat than would occur in the absence of irreversibility.

On the determinants of quasi-option value

Abstract Quasi-option value is a concept or notion which suggests that resource decisions based on expected values of random variables may be biased in favor of development, if development is irreversible and the passage of time yields information on future expectations. This paper compares the limited and analytically divergent literature on the subject, derives the specific components of a measure of quasi-option value and speculates on the potential for quasi-option value becoming an operational component of analysis undertaken by governmental resource management agencies.

A simple economic model of endangered species preservation in the United States

Abstract Concern for the acceleration in threats to species diversity in the United States led to the passage of the Endangered Species Act of 1973. In this paper, this legislation is examined in an economic context. A simple model is developed where management and constraints on economic activity are substitutes in the production of species stocks. Whether economic growth constraints (the primary policy tool of the 1973 Act) are justified for preservation purposes depends on technical substitution possibilities, relative cost ratios, and the existence of budget constraints for species management. Since the same combination of these factors will not occur for all species, it is argued that more flexibility in endangered species policy may preserve the same levels of species stocks at lower costs to society.

Game availability and hunter participation: A study of Washington elk hunting

A major issue in natural resources management is the effect of game availability on hunter participation. In this study, “gravity potential” measures of availability of elk hunting opportunities, as well as socio-economic data, are used as independent variables in estimation of probability and days of participation equations for elk hunting in Washington State. Days of participation equations are estimated with OLS regression. Probability equations are estimated with logit analysis. Game availability variables are statistically significant in all equations. Applications and extensions of the methodology are discussed.

The Political Economy of Western Water Finance: Cost Allocation and the Bonneville Unit of the Central Utah Project

A common hypothesis is that federal water agencies pursue continued appropriations with little consideration of national economic efficiency. In the mid-1980s, faced with a vote on a supplemental municipal and industrial water repayment contract on the Bonneville Unit of the Central Utah Project, the Bureau of Reclamation confirmed this hypothesis. Through modifications in cost allocation procedures, the bureau shifted costs from municipal and industrial water to hydropower and irrigation. The result of this action was retention of the irrigation purpose in the Bonneville Unit, which would have been unjustified under previous cost allocation procedures.

Disproportionate sampling and recreation demand estimation with the 1980 national survey of fishing, hunting, and wildlife‐associated recreation

Abstract Data on recreation activity often are obtained from national surveys using stratified, disproportionate sampling. One such survey is the 1980 National Survey of Fishing, Hunting, and Wildlife‐Associated Recreation (1980 Survey). This paper examines the effect of disproportionate sampling on estimates of recreational fishing demand with data from the 1980 Survey. Contrary to some expectations in the literature, disproportionate sampling appears to cause few problems for demand estimation with the 1980 Survey. The evidence suggests that household characteristics determining sampling ratios have little relation to the level of fishing by household members.