Jordan F. Suter

Experiments on Damage-Based Ambient Taxes for Nonpoint Source Polluters

This article presents experimental tests of a linear and a nonlinear ambient tax mechanism that involve modest information requirements for the regulator. When agents are not allowed to communicate, both tax mechanisms result in emission levels that approximate the social optimum. When agents can communicate, emissions are considerably below the optimum, but we show that the tax function can be scaled to achieve social efficiency. Finally, by disaggregating the overall efficiency measure, we show that changing the pollution threshold that triggers the tax increases the inefficiency resulting from variation in agent-level decisions, but does not affect average emissions. Copyright 2008, Oxford University Press.

Do Landowners Respond to Land Retirement Incentives? Evidence from the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program

Previous research on incentive responsivness in voluntary land retirement programs has utilized either hypothetical contingent response methods or actual aggregate enrollment data, both of which suffer from potential biases. In this paper, we analyze program participation in the binary-choice setting of the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP) using data from six states. Our results suggest that landowners react positively to the incentives that are offered and that increases in onetime incentives, offered at the time of signup, are a more cost-effective means to increase enrollment than increases in the incentives offered on an annual basis. (JEL Q15, Q24)

Behavior in a Spatially Explicit Groundwater Resource: Evidence from the Lab

This research uses laboratory experiments to examine how hydrogeologic properties of groundwater models influence decision making. The results reveal that pumping rates are highest when the underlying model is such that the future costs of groundwater use are broadcast evenly to all users, as a majority of participants behave myopically. There is less myopic behavior when the groundwater dynamics are governed by spatially explicit models, where the private cost of groundwater use is high relative to external costs. These results suggest that models used to simulate common-pool resource dynamics play an important role in determining both economic predictions and behavioral outcomes. Copyright 2012, Oxford University Press.

Connections in Networks: Hardness of Feasibility Versus Optimality

We study the complexity of combinatorial problems that consist of competing infeasibility and optimization components. In particular, we investigate the complexity of the connection subgraph problem, which occurs, e.g., in resource environment economics and social networks. We present results on its worst-case hardness and approximability. We then provide a typical-case analysis by means of a detailed computational study. First, we identify an easy-hard-easy pattern, coinciding with the feasibility phase transition of the problem. Second, our experimental results reveal an interesting interplay between feasibility and optimization. They surprisingly show that proving optimality of the solution of the feasible instances can be substantially easier than proving infeasibility of the infeasible instances in a computationally hard region of the problem space. We also observe an intriguing easy-hard-easy profile for the optimization component itself.

Behavioral response to contamination risk information in a spatially explicit groundwater environment: Experimental evidence

This paper assesses the effectiveness of aquifer monitoring information in achieving more sustainable use of a groundwater resource in the absence of management policy. Groundwater user behavior in the face of an irreversible contamination threat is studied by applying methods of experimental economics to scenarios that combine a physics-based, spatially explicit, numerical groundwater model with different representations of information about an aquifer and its risk of contamination. The results suggest that the threat of catastrophic contamination affects pumping decisions: pumping is significantly reduced in experiments where contamination is possible compared to those where pumping cost is the only factor discouraging groundwater use. The level of information about the state of the aquifer also affects extraction behavior. Pumping rates differ when information that synthesizes data on aquifer conditions (a “risk gauge”) is provided, despite invariant underlying economic incentives, and this result does not depend on whether the risk information is location-specific or from a whole aquifer perspective. Interestingly, users increase pumping when the risk gauge signals good aquifer status compared to a no-gauge treatment. When the gauge suggests impending contamination, however, pumping declines significantly, resulting in a lower probability of contamination. The study suggests that providing relatively simple aquifer condition guidance derived from monitoring data can lead to more sustainable use of groundwater resources.

A Multidisciplinary Research Framework on Green Schools: Infrastructure, Social Environment, Occupant Health, and Performance

BACKGROUND Sustainable school buildings hold much promise to reducing operating costs, improve occupant well-being and, ultimately, teacher and student performance. However, there is a scarcity of evidence on the effects of sustainable school buildings on health and performance indicators. We sought to create a framework for a multidisciplinary research agenda that links school facilities, health, and educational outcomes. METHODS We conducted a nonsystematic review of peer review publications, government documents, organizational documents, and school climate measurement instruments. RESULTS We found that studies on the impact of physical environmental factors (air, lighting, and thermal comfort) on health and occupant performance are largely independent of research on the social climate. The current literature precludes the formation of understanding the causal relation among school facilities, social climate, occupant health, and occupant performance. CONCLUSIONS Given the average age of current school facilities in the United States, construction of new school facilities or retrofits of older facilities will be a major infrastructure investment for many municipalities over the next several decades. Multidisciplinary research that seeks to understand the impact of sustainable design on the health and performance of occupants will need to include both an environmental science and social science perspective to inform best practices and quantification of benefits that go beyond general measures of costs savings from energy efficiencies.

Retiring Land to Save Water: Participation in Colorado’s Republican River Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program

Agricultural land retirement is increasingly used to manage water resources. This study uses well-level enrollment data to explore the factors that influence landowner participation in the Colorado Republican River Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program. An empirical model of enrollment is informed by a theoretical model of participation that incorporates aquifer and soil characteristics in addition to financial incentives. Our results reveal that enrollment is predicted to increase by 0.087 percentage points with a

The impact of information on behavior under an ambient-based policy for regulating nonpoint source pollution

10 increase in the incentives offered. The probability of enrollment is also influenced by the aquifer’s saturated thickness and the soil characteristics that impact land productivity. (JEL Q25)

Experimental Evidence on Policy Approaches That Link Agricultural Subsidies to Water Quality Outcomes

[The impact of information on behavior under an ambient-based policy for regulating nonpoint source pollution] Haoran Miao, Jacob Fooks, Todd Guilfoos, Kent Messer, Soni M. Pradhanang, Jordan Suter, Simona Trandafir, Emi Uchida 1 Department of Environmental and Natural Resource Economics, University of Rhode Island 2 USDA Economics Research Service 3 Department of Applied Economics and Statistics, University of Delaware 4 Department of Geosciences, University of Rhode Island 5 Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Colorado State University * Corresponding Author. Email: haoran_miao@my.uri.edu. Kingston Coastal Institute, 1 Greenhouse Road, University of Rhode Island, Kingston, RI 02881.

The Heterogeneous Impacts of Groundwater Management Policies in the Republican River Basin of Colorado: IMPACTS OF GW MANAGEMENT POLICIES

Abstract Improving water quality in agricultural landscapes is an ongoing challenge, and most agri‐environmental programs in the United States rely on voluntary adoption of conservation practices. Conservation‐compliance initiatives require producers to meet specific conservation standards to qualify for payments from farm programs. However, these requirements do not require actual improvements in observed water quality. In this study, we introduce policies to reduce nonpoint source pollution that link eligibility for agricultural subsidies to compliance with water quality goals. We then use economic laboratory experiments to provide empirical evidence related to the performance of these policies. In the policy treatments, participants risk losing some or all of their subsidies if the ambient pollution level exceeds an announced target. A novel feature of our experiment is that we test a policy treatment that ensures that no subsidies are lost if a producer implements a verifiable conservation technology that reduces emissions. In these experiments, policies that link the receipt of subsidies to ambient water quality nearly achieve the socially optimal level of pollution. The results suggest that water quality policies that rely on the threat of subsidy reductions are a potentially viable option for reducing aggregate water pollution. Although a policy that allows polluters to avoid potential losses by implementing a verifiable conservation technology could increase political support for ambient‐based policies, our results suggest that, depending upon the magnitudes of social damages from emissions and the cost of implementing a conservation technology, such policies may be less cost‐effective for a comparable reduction in pollution.