Robert L. Hicks

The Cost of Sea Turtle Preservation: The Case of Hawaii's Pelagic Longliners

The Cost of Sea Turtle Preservation: The Case of Hawaiis Pelagic Longliners Author(s): Rita Curtis and Robert L. Hicks Reviewed work(s): Source: American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Vol. 82, No. 5, Proceedings Issue (Dec., 2000), pp. 1191-1197 Published by: Oxford University Press on behalf of the Agricultural & Applied Economics Association Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1244249 . Accessed: 23/01/2012 17:27

Learning and Knowledge Depreciation in Professional Services

Organizational knowledge is a critical source of competitive advantage for professional service firms. Learning from experience and sustaining past knowledge are critical to the success of such knowledge-driven firms. We use learning curve theory to evaluate learning and depreciation in professional services. Our results, based on seven years of project data collected from an architectural engineering (A/E) firm, show that (a) professional services exhibit learning curves, (b) there is virtually no depreciation of knowledge and, (c) the rate of learning accelerates with experience.

The Extent of Information: Its Relevance for Random Utility Models

This paper examines the effect of the researchers definition of a recreators choice set on the parameter and welfare estimates from standard random utility models. Three choice set definitions are compared: choice sets based on all alternatives within the survey, those alternatives within a specified distance from the respondents home, and alternatives familiar to the individual. We show that parameter and welfare estimates are sensitive to the definition of the choice set. Welfare measures of site closures differ in varying ways depending on the familiarity level of the sites in question.

The cost of stress: Low dissolved oxygen and economic benefits of recreational striped bass (Morone saxatilis) fishing in the Patuxent River

A Poisson catch rate model for striped bass (Morone saxatilis) anglers in Chesapeake Bay was developed that incorporates the effect of bottom temperature and dissolved oxygen (DO). Angler catch rates are shown to be negatively affected by low DO. Predicted angler catch rates were then used in a random utility model of striped bass fishing location choice. Where anglers choose to fish is significantly related to expected catch rate and the travel cost and time from the anglers residence to the fishing location. Results from the random utility model were then used to simulate the economic welfare changes that result from changing DO levels in the Patuxent River. Since there are many substitute sites for fishing in the Patuxent River, the welfare effects are small. Increases in DO from current levels have a small effect on angler welfare, but if levels are allowed to deteriorate so they never exceed 5 mg l−1, the welfare effects are much larger. Under this latter scenario, the net present value of angler losses exceeds

Short-run Welfare Losses from Essential Fish Habitat Designations for the Surfclam and Ocean Quahog Fisheries

100,000, and are almost

Dynamic Random Utility Modeling: A Monte Carlo Analysis

300,000 if the fishing grounds are anoxic. Losses are considerably higher as the area impacted by low oxygen conditions increases.

Angler Heterogeneity and the Species-Specific Demand for Marine Recreational Fishing

In this paper, we present a spatial model of fishing that can be used to assess some of the economic welfare losses to producers from setting aside essential fish habitat (EFH) areas. The paper demonstrates how spatially explicit behavioral models of fishing are estimated, how these models can be used to measure welfare losses to fishermen, and how these models can then, in turn, be used to simulate fishing behavior. In developing the spatial model of fishing behavior, the work incorporates ideas of congestion and information effects, and we show a modification of standard welfare measures that accounts for these spillover effects. Using this methodology, these effects are traced through to the policy simulations, where we demonstrate how these welfare and predicted shares need to be modified to account for spillover effects from fleet activity.

Product Labeling, Consumer Willingness to Pay, and the Supply Chain

Applied studies of commercial fishing have largely ignored the intertemporal aspects of repeated site choices. For many fisheries, fishermen might choose a dynamically optimal cruise trajectory rather than myopic day-to-day strategies and a model that ignores these considerations will likely lead to biased parameter estimates and poor policy guidance. A dynamic random utility model is developed that utilizes the same information as static site-choice models but is entrenched in the principles of dynamic optimization. Using Monte Carlo analysis, we evaluate the performance of this estimator as compared to the static model for a variety of simulated fishery types.

Valuing Historical and Open Space Amenities with Hedonic Property Valuation Models

Abstract In this study we assess the ability of the Marine Recreational Fishery Statistics Survey (MRFSS) to support single-species recreation demand models. We use the 2000 MRFSS southeast intercept data combined with the economic add-on. We determine that the MRFSS data will support only a few species-specific recreation demand models. Considering species of management interest in the Southeast, we focus on dolphinfish, king mackerel, red snapper, and red drum. We examine single-species recreational fishing behavior using random utility models of demand. We explore mixed logit (i.e., random parameter logit) and finite mixture (i.e., latent class logit) models for dealing with angler heterogeneity. We compare these to the commonly used conditional and nested logit models in terms of the value of catching (and keeping) one additional fish. Mixed logit models illustrate that the value of catch can be highly heterogeneous and, in some cases, can include both positive and negative values. The finite mixture model generates value estimates that were sometimes strikingly different than conditional, nested, and mixed logit models. Preference heterogeneity is significant within the MRFSS data. We find evidence that single-species models outperform multiple-species models and recreational values differ. JEL Classification Codes: Q26, Q51

CAN ECO-LABELS TUNE A MARKET? EVIDENCE FROM DOLPHIN-SAFE LABELING

In this chapter I focus on the nexus between the supply chain and what is known about consumer willingness to pay for social and eco-labels. I briefly discuss the market penetration of product labels and what this means for product supply chains. I then focus on what is currently known about how consumers value label information. I go on to discuss import design issues such as who is certifying the label and the amount and type of information presented on the product label.