Paul E. Chambers

Contingent Valuation of Quasi-Public Goods: Validity, Reliability, and Application To Valuing a Historic Site

This article employs the contingent valuation method (CVM) to measure the non- market value of preservation of the Ste. Genevieve Academy, a quasi-public good. This study represents a new application of the CVM featuring a historical resource. As such, the authors explore the validity and reliability of this application of the method. Construct validity tests based on economic theory and the reliability test of internal consistency are conducted. The authors find evidence that the CVM can be a useful approach for measuring the nonmarket value of quasi-public goods such as historical resources. The authors also illustrate how the CVM can be used for policy analysis of preservation of historical sites.

Environmental Barriers to Trade: The Case of Endangered Sea Turtles

In April of 1998, the World Trade Organization pronounced the US Sea Turtle Conservation Act in violation of the GATT. This paper presents a stylized Heckscher-Ohlin-Samuelson model in which the fatal entrapment of sea turtles in nets of the shrimping industry is a negative externality that reduces global utility. Three trade equilibria are simulated: free trade, trade ban, and free trade with subsidization. With free trade, a transfer of abatement capital from the North to the South results in a Pareto improvement upon the trade ban. The simulations indicate that a cooperative outcome that obtains global efficiency may be feasible but is improbable. Copyright 2001 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Debt-for-nature swaps as noncooperative outcomes

Abstract Recently, nongovernmental organizations have engaged in debt-for-nature swaps in an effort to slow the rate of deforestation. The purpose of this paper is to provide analysis of the welfare properties that arise to self-enforcing swaps. We show that swaps may be self-enforcing in that they can arise as noncooperative equilibria at high harvest and debt levels. Under these conditions, a credit constrained LDC is likely to reduce harvest levels. Similarly if the NGO views preservation projects as complements, it is likely to provide debt relief. We provide simulations to demonstrate the effects of different parametric values for the utility functions of the LDC and NGO on the noncooperative and cooperative equilibria.

Economic Growth and Threatened and Endangered Species Listings: A VAR Analysis §

We conduct several analyses to examine the link between threatened and endangered species listings and macroeconomic activity. Preliminary tests using ordinary least squares are run on both time series data on the national level and cross sectional data at the state level. The analysis is then extended using vector autoregressive (VAR) techniques. VAR results, impulse response functions and variance decompositions are reported to shed more light on the causal relationships between threatened and endangered species, GDP and population. Our results indicate that there is little or no empirical evidence that GDP growth rates lead to changes in the number of threatened and endangered species listings.

Implicit markets for the characteristics of outdoor recreation goods: The case of backpacks

Abstract We use hedonic techniques to estimate the implicit prices of various characteristics of backpacks. Previously, the hedonic method has been used to assess the value of individual characteristics of many goods, including computers, automobiles, and housing. Since theory does not suggest a specific functional form, we perform a Box-Cox search for the best functional form. Next, hedonic regressions are run to estimate the value of characteristics of the backpacks. Finally, an analysis of best and worst buys is conducted based on the implicit prices of characteristics from the hedonic regressions.