Patricia E. Norris

Environmental Policy And Technology Adoption In Animal Agriculture

The increasing number and concentration of animals in beef, swine and poultry production units has led to heightened concerns over the environmental and nuisance impacts of such operations. Whether flexible incentives can be used effectively to reduce such environmental risks requires consideration of the economic and institutional factors driving the structural changes in animal agriculture. The design of environmental policy to address these concerns is complicated by disagreement over whether these animal operations are point or nonpoint sources of water pollution. The multidimensionality of environmental and nuisance concerns associated with animal agriculture suggest that two separate, but interrelated, policy issues exist—the location of these large animal operations and the management of the manure they generate. Policy responses incorporating flexible incentives are likely required at federal, state and local levels of government.

Net Buyers, Net Sellers, and Agricultural Landowner Support for Agricultural Zoning

Agricultural zoning and land-use restrictions are long-standing approaches for controlling non-agricultural development. We provide a theoretical explanation for variation in agricultural landowner support for zoning based on landowners’ positions—whether a landowner is a buyer or a seller—in the land market. Hypotheses derived from the model are tested using data from a survey of agricultural landowners in Kent County, Michigan. The empirical findings are consistent with our hypothesis that net buyers and net sellers of agricultural land will differ in their support for agricultural zoning. (JEL Q15)

Setting the Standard for Farmland Preservation: Do Preservation Criteria Motivate Citizen Support for Farmland Preservation?

The multifunctional set of services provided by farmland complicates the task of identifying which farmland should be preserved. For this reason many states and local governments establish criteria to rank and select parcels of farmland for protection. This study examines whether criteria commonly used by state programs to guide purchases of agricultural conservation easements influence public demand for farmland preservation. The results provide policy makers with additional information to assess current ranking criteria that set the standard for farmland preservation.

FACTORS INFLUENCING SUPPORT FOR RURAL LAND USE CONTROL: A COMMENT

Land ownership characteristics such as the quantity of land owned, quality of land parcels, and location of land describe important dimensions of landed wealth. Landed wealth is expected to be an important factor influencing support for rural land use control. This factor was not discussed in the April (1999) article by McLeod, Woirhaye, and Menkhaus (1999). We suggest that this factor contributes to understanding variation in support for rural land use control.

Environmental Regulations as Constraints to Agriculture: A Discussion

Little doubt remains that agricultural operations will be increasingly constrained by environmental regulations. In that spirit, each of the foregoing authors has provided a general framework for a specific environmental issue as it impacts agriculturalists. I learned something from each paper (an important criterion). Rather than summarize the points made by the authors, I have chosen to address each paper separately and point out some specific issues which I feel were overlooked in the papers or which seem to follow directly from the discussions in the papers.

Land Use Change, Resource Competition And Conflict In The Southern United States: Discussion

These three papers together characterize trends in land use, resource issues, and research responses that are being observed in all regions of the country. However, southern states are the locus of the most recent and rapid changes in land use. The latest National Resources Inventory data shows that the increase in acreage of land in developed uses from 1992 through 1997 was most pronounced in the southern states. Figure 1 compares, for all states but Alaska, the average annual rate of land development (this is land moved into the urban and built-up category and the rural transportation land category) between 1992 and 1997. Eight of the top 13 states are in the southern region, and Louisiana, the southern state with the lowest rate of land development, is ranked at 29th out of 49.

The instituted nature of market information: The case of induced innovation and environmental regulation

Communities across the globe increasingly confront environmental and natural resource management decisions that require expenditures to protect and conserve ecosystems. These decisions typically require consideration of bio-physical, political, economic, and other factors. Institutional economic thinking and analysis provide a framework for assessing and understanding the relative benefits of alternative institutions for managing environmental and natural resources. Using an institutional economic analysis, this chapter provides an evaluation of two alternative policy instruments - a local payment for environmental services scheme and a national watershed conservation tax - for protecting drinking water in eastern Costa Rica.1. Introduction, 2. Simplicity in Institutional Design, Nathan Berg, 3. Institutional Economics as Volitional Pragmatism, Daniel Bromley, 4. The Essence of Economics, Neil K. Komesar, 5. Is Law Facilitating or Taxing Transactions?, Claude Menard, 6. Institutional Analysis, Elinor Ostrom, 7. Some Problems in Assessing the Evolution and Impact of Institutions, Warren Samuels, 8. Power and the Troublesome Economist, Allan Schmid, 9. Institutions and Rationality, Arild Vatn, 10. Towards a Theory of Induced Institutional Change, Morris Altman, 11. Does Economic Development require Certain Property Rights?, Peter Boettke and Robert Subrick, 12. The Role of Culture and Social Norms in Theories of Institutional Change, Julie Hogeland, 13. Attitudes Matter, Ute-Maria Niederle, 14. Institutional Individualism and Institutional Change, Fernando Toboso, 15. Post-Keynesian Institutionalism and the Anxious Society, Charles Whalen, 16. The Instituted Nature of Market Information, 17. A Dialogue on Institutions, Nicholas Mercuro

Environmental Regulatory Reform: Discussion

Within the general rubric of environmental policy reform, the three papers in this session address the current policy situation, the issues driving the policy reform movement, and how economics can contribute to the debate and its outcome. The papers fit together well to paint a picture of the evolution of environmental policy and some of the issues and challenges for economists associated with that evolution. Although the authors note a number of issues and challenges, there are other important points which deserve attention. In addition, I find myself challenging some of the points raised by the authors. It is toward these points that I focus this discussion paper.