Theses and Dissertations

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Three essays on the economics of land use and conservation
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2024) Shartaj, Mostafa, author; Suter, Jordan F., advisor; Manning, Dale T., committee member; Bayham, Jude, committee member; Jones, Kelly, committee member
This dissertation consists of three chapters focused on the economics of land use and conservation. The first chapter investigates the differences in groundwater use among wells irrigating State Land Board (SLB) parcels and nearby private parcels. SLB parcels represent leased parcels with limited tenure length and uncertainty of renewal. In the chapter, we demonstrate that wells irrigating SLB lands pump substantially more groundwater compared to non-SLB wells. The second chapter makes use of a novel dataset of discount rates elicited from agricultural producers across the United States to explore how estimates of discount rates for can be utilized to improve the performance of agri-environmental programs. The final paper examines camping in US Forest Service (USFS) campgrounds during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using data on campground reservations made through recreation.gov, we illustrate how camping on USFS lands was impacted by infection rates, public health restrictions and proximity to metropolitan areas and National Parks (NPs). Imperfect property rights can lead to over-extraction of resources and provide disincentives to invest in conservation of the resource stock. In the first chapter, making use of a natural experiment, we explore the case of groundwater usage on State Land Board (SLB) parcels, relative to nearby private parcels. The SLB of Colorado leases out land to agricultural producers, with groundwater rights tied to the land leases. Leases by the SLB have tenure lengths of 10 years, where the leaseholder is allowed to renew their lease if they can match the highest bid for the next lease term. This generates uncertainty regarding access to future groundwater stocks. We contribute to the literature by demonstrating the causal impact of SLB designation on groundwater use. We show that wells irrigating SLB lands, on average, use 15 to 24 percent more groundwater compared to nearby private lands. Adoption of conservation practices in agriculture often requires upfront costs, while the private benefits are produced in the future. As such, farmers' time preferences can play an important role in adoption decisions. In the second chapter, using elicited discount rates of farmers from 26 US states, we explore the role of farmers' discount rates in cover crop adoption, program participation, and continuation of cover cropping after the contract period. The data reveal that mean observed discount rates are lower both for farmers that adopt cover cropping and for farmers that participate in conservation programs, compared to those who do not. This suggests that time preferences play a key role in conservation adoption decisions. The empirical results are followed by a simulation analysis, which utilizes the discount rate data to explore benefits of tailoring conservation contracts based on discount rates. The simulations point out that a small increase in upfront payments can substantially increase cover cropping during the contract period, but they do little to increase continuation of cover cropping after the contract period. The simulations also reveal that tailoring the contract length and annual payment, according to the discount rate information, can allow policy makers to target higher levels of continuation, which are unattainable under the 5-year status quo contract. In the extreme case where the program administrator can observe individual discount rates, it is possible to dramatically reduce the costs of increasing continual adoption by individually tailoring the contracts. During the COVID-19 pandemic, US public land managers faced the challenge of catering to large increases in camping demand, while maintaining social distancing guidelines. In the final chapter, we use multivariate linear regression to analyze weekly changes in reservations to US Forest Service (USFS) campgrounds between 2019 and 2020. Our sample includes 1,688 individual USFS campgrounds from across the contiguous US. The results illustrate the dramatic increases in camping on USFS land that occurred in the summer of 2020 and demonstrate that increases in local infection rates led to significant increases in camping nights reserved in the summer. The results also illustrate that the increase in camping nights reserved at USFS campgrounds was particularly dramatic for campgrounds located near large metropolitan areas and near National Parks that saw increases in overall recreational visits. These results point to the important role that public lands played during the pandemic and can help guide public land resource allocations for campground maintenance and operation.
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Three essays on food policy adoption and economic welfare
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2024) Kashyap, Pratyoosh, author; Jablonski, Becca B.R., advisor; Suter, Jordan F., committee member; Hill, Alexandra E., committee member; Carolan, Michael S., committee member
This dissertation contains three chapters that empirically explore policies supporting school meals and local food marketing as well as drivers of food demand with the goal of providing comprehensive insights into their complexities and implications, ultimately contributing to a deeper understanding of the food systems. Recognizing school meals as critical safety nets for children in low-income households, many states in the United States (U.S.) are passing legislation to adopt universal free school meals, linking their funding to the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP), a federally funded universal free school meal program. In the first chapter we develop a unique school district-level dataset and use a Cox regression model to demonstrate the importance of federal- and state-level policy factors in increasing the likelihood of CEP adoption. In the second chapter, we examine the relationships among stocks of community wealth, state legislation supporting farm to school (FTS), and the intensity of FTS activities. Leveraging the U.S. Department of Agriculture's 2019 FTS Census, a new disaggregated database on state-level FTS policies, a new dataset of stocks of local wealth, and using a Heckman selection model, we find positive associations between cultural and social capital and FTS intensity, and associations with state FTS policies. In the third chapter, we shift our focus to examining economic welfare implications in the event of an African Swine Fever (ASF) outbreak in the U.S. Although ASF is not a food safety risk and has never been detected in the U.S., little is known about changes in U.S. pork demand in case of an outbreak. Using an online survey experiment, we find that the demand for pork is predicted to shift downward by approximately 31% resulting in an annual welfare loss of $55.46 billion in the pork market, exacerbating the losses to pork producers. Results also indicate that government institutions are most trusted when it comes to sharing news about food safety, strongly suggesting its importance in generating awareness prior to and during an ASF outbreak.
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Climate change, soil carbon sequestration, and agricultural technology adoption: the case of deeper root system corn adoption and diffusion in the U.S. Corn Belt
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2024) Al Maamari, Aaisha, author; Graff, Gregory, advisor; Mooney, Daniel, committee member; Hill, Alexandra, committee member; McKay, John, committee member
Traditional agricultural practices and land use changes have resulted in greenhouse gas emissions back into the atmosphere, which negatively contributes to climate change. Traditional practices also reduce soil organic matter including soil carbon which is essential for soil health, maintenance of soil biological processes, and environmental sustainability. Currently, a range of agricultural conservation practices has come to be recommended and incentivized for soil carbon sequestration by either increasing carbon inputs and/or reducing carbon losses. These include practices such as reduced tillage, cover cropping, and crop rotations. Although private carbon markets have taken the initiative to provide incentive payments for carbon sequestration in agriculture, the adoption of SCS practices can be hindered by different socioeconomic, farm operational, and environmental constraints. In addition to currently recommended soil management practices, new crop genetic innovations, including perennial grain crops and annual crops, such as corn, with larger root systems or deep root traits are emerging as additional examples of SCS frontier technologies. The first chapter of this dissertation utilizes a joint adoption model to hypothetically examine the impact of socioeconomic, environmental, and farm variables on the probability of adopting either or both of currently recommended SCS practices and these novel genetic innovations, such as deeper root corn varieties. Moreover, deeper root system traits are expected to maintain yields under drought conditions. Deeper root system hybrids are also expected to be an effective agricultural technology for maintaining soil health as they can reduce soil erosion and increase soil organic matter. Existing drought tolerant (DT) corn varieties that have been commercially marketed for more than 10 years exhibit some of these same characteristics. Therefore, the adoption of existing DT hybrids is likely a good indication of the potential for the adoption of hybrids with further enhanced root systems. In the second chapter, we use state-level and field-level data for corn planted in the United States Corn Belt to examine the influence of climate change, soil characteristics, and production practices in the decision to adopt DT varieties. Seed industry data indicates that 44 percent of Corn Belt planted corn acres were allocated to a DT variety in 2021 and 58 percent were planted to DT in 2022. Results suggest that exposure to recent years' drought is a significant determinant of the adoption of DT corn. DT corn is more likely to be adopted in non-irrigated fields. We find that western Corn Belt states are more likely to increase the share of DT corn acres compared to eastern and central Corn Belt states, associated with lower precipitation values and higher drought severity. Thus, deeper root varieties are likely to be more attractive to farmers in western more arid regions of the Corn Belt, where associated soil carbon benefits of deeper root varieties are likely to be more limited. Anticipating that enhanced deeper root corn hybrids with public benefits may come to be treated as a conservation practice included under incentive payment programs, and understanding that soil carbon potential is heterogeneous, in the third chapter we consider the question of spatial targeting of payments. We develop three per acre payment scenarios under the benefit optimization approach to estimate and compare the metric tons of carbon inset under an optimal cropland acre enrolled in a carbon incentive program. The study uses cross section data for counties in the United States Corn Belt, a region with the largest number of productive cropland acres and higher potential carbon sequestration rates compared to other regions across the United States. Results show that if the carbon incentive program is designed to target the adoption of SCS practices that result in high, medium, and low SCS rates respectively, then we can expect that about 32, 24, and 19 million metric tons of carbon can be sequestered in Corn Belt croplands annually.
Open Access
Three essays on the economics of water resources and climate change
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2024) Blumberg, Joey, author; Goemans, Chris, advisor; Manning, Dale, committee member; Burkhardt, Jesse, committee member; Arabi, Mazdak, committee member
This dissertation investigates three broad topics in the economics of water resources and climate change. In the first chapter, I explore how changes in perceptions about water availability affect the adoption of conservation practices. I present a theoretical framework to examine how producer perceptions influence investment in irrigation efficiency, and a period of extreme drought and institutional change in Colorado is leveraged as a natural experiment to evaluate theoretical hypotheses empirically. The second chapter assesses the sensitivity of climate change impact estimates to the climate economy functional form in agriculture. I accomplish this through the development of a long-run dataset of county-level weather and climate metrics, including hourly temperature measurements across all counties in the conterminous US, and demonstrate the consequences of multiple modelling approaches that are common in the literature. I also create a composite vulnerability index that integrates the magnitude and consistency of impacts across all defensible models to generate a comprehensive measure of climate risk to a county's agricultural sector. In the final chapter, I compare the economic efficiency of different water allocation mechanisms. A combination of optimization models and water supply simulations are employed to compare prior appropriation with and without water markets, and alternative, share-based mechanisms. I illustrate how the physical and institutional components of a river basin, such return flows, user seniority, heterogeneous value functions, and user locations (i.e., upstream or downstream), impact allocative performance.
Open Access
Exploring heterogeneous motives behind animal welfare management: a focus on fed cattle
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2024) Ayoub, Samantha Elizabeth, author; Mooney, Daniel, advisor; Koontz, Stephen, committee member; Ritten, John, committee member; Edwards-Callaway, Lily, committee member
This thesis evaluates animal welfare management for fed cattle in two parts. The final marketing stage of the cattle supply chain, which includes transportation from the feedlot, unloading, lairage, and stunning, can subject cattle to significant stress. Yet, previous research has primarily concentrated on animal welfare in upstream segments of the supply chain, such as at ranches and in feedlots. As consumer awareness increases and demand for improved animal welfare rises, it is crucial to evaluate the impacts of animal welfare outcomes on fed cattle production across the supply chain. First, a lot-level empirical analysis evaluates how animal welfare outcomes in the final marketing stage affect the final grid value of fed cattle carcasses. We hypothesize that poor animal welfare outcomes will be negatively correlated with processed carcass value due to reduced mobility, higher bruising trim, and meat quality defects (e.g., dark cutting). We use data collected from five federally inspected processing plants during 2021-2022 that include lot characteristics, animal welfare outcomes, and exogenous factors. Historical monthly price spreads from the Economic Research Service (ERS) and national weekly slaughter cattle premiums and discounts from the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) are used for market and pricing information. We construct grid carcass values for over 600 lots of fed cattle, representing over 87,000 fed cattle. Regression is used to analyze whether and how much mobility, bruising, and quality defects affect grid values conditional on lot characteristics and other exogenous factors. We find that the value after processing varies by the study factors, including animal welfare outcomes, although some negative welfare outcomes are relatively rare in the data. Assuming processors behave as profit maximizers, decreased returns due to poor animal welfare outcomes could incentivize improved animal welfare management in fed cattle production systems. Second, animal welfare management has broader implications for changing regulatory, market, and private industry requirements for producing animal products. Therefore, the second essay of this thesis broadens into a discussion of the heterogeneous motives behind animal welfare management at the pre-slaughter marketing stage. Animal welfare improvements are a conscious management decision impacting the various strategic goals of business. Beyond profit motives, we explore societal and consumer expectations, corporate responsibility, and market access options that are highlighted by increased investment in animal welfare management. We combine previous literature on these aspects into an over-arching discussion of the opportunities and challenges that producers may face when deciding how to manage animal welfare outcomes. To organize the discussion, we adopt a conceptual framework that incorporates dynamic firm behavior, such as access to differentiated markets and corporate social responsibility, in addition to simple profit maximization. The two essays combine to explore the trade-off of animal welfare management costs and benefits for producers in the final marketing stage of fed cattle and have the potential to generate future discussion on the feasibility and progress of ever-growing animal welfare requirements for farm animal production.
Open Access
Bioeconomic modeling of livestock production, rangeland management and forage systems in a dynamic context
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2008) Ritten, John Patrick, author; Frasier, W. Marshall, advisor
This work focuses on optimal livestock management in a dynamic framework. The first essay utilizes linear programming to analyze proper herd management during periods of drought. It also examines the use of summer hay as an option to alleviate the negative impacts of drought on cattle producers. Findings show that while financial returns are greatly impacted by varying cattle prices, optimal management decisions are driven more by weather changes than price changes. Further analysis shows that although allowing summer feed improves long term returns to producers, the main benefit of such a strategy is the ability to carry increased inventories though drought, with the increased returns coming post-drought. The second essay utilizes dynamic programming to determine proper stocking rates when future forage production is related to current use of rangelands. The model maximizes the Bellman Equation using a Chebychev interpolation process. Results show that profit maximizing producers will leave just over half of total production as standing forage. Further analysis shows that while returns are impacted by both cattle and corn prices, optimal management decisions do not change with changes in either of these. Stocking decisions are mainly driven by animal efficiency and land productivity. The third essay adds the element of stochastic weather to the model utilized in the second essay. Specific attention is given to how producers make stocking decisions in the face of random weather events. Again, producers leave just over half of carrying capacity as standing forage when acting optimally. However, if growing season precipitation is unknown at the time the stocking decision is made actual standing forage may vary from this desired outcome, resulting in a decrease in future stocking rates. It is shown that a producer with knowledge of growing season precipitation will be more profitable than a producer without this knowledge on average by 21%. Again, stocking decisions are mainly driven by land productivity and animal efficiency as well as whether or not a producer has knowledge of current year precipitation.
Open Access
A computable general equilibrium analysis of aggregates materials recycling and waste disposal policy alternatives
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2009) Miller, Michael D., author; Davies, Stephen, advisor; Cutler, Harvey, advisor
The work presented in this dissertation is intended to provide community leaders insights into possible aggregates material disposal and recycling policy alternatives. In this work four main policy alternatives are examined-a tax on landfill deposits, a subsidy for the purchase of recycled aggregates materials, a requirement that all industries in the community increase their consumption of recycled aggregates, and a requirement that the top five producers of aggregates waste supply greater amounts of materials to recycling facilities. The scenarios reported include "base case" situations and sensitivity analysis. For the sensitivity analysis, there are changes in the levels of taxation, subsidy, required use of the recycled materials, and required supply waste to be recycled. Additionally, the percentage of materials being sent to landfill and the percentage of materials being recycled is adjusted in order to measure the impacts of the tax and subsidy on communities with differing levels of recycling already in place. Two other policy alternatives are also analyzed and briefly discussed: (1) The model is allowed to respond to changes in the prices of intermediate goods; and (2) Tax and subsidy rates are changed simultaneously. This dissertation finds that, as a result of the limited economic impact of the aggregates materials industry (compared to the local economy in total), landfill deposit taxes and materials purchase subsidies have little impact on the community's economic well being. However, due to the rather "painless" nature of these policies, implementation of these policies do not preclude their use in laying the groundwork for other, more impactful solid waste material disposal approaches. The implementation of the two regulatory policy alternatives has significant positive impacts throughout the economy, but carries with them greater unknown liabilities that are beyond the scope of this dissertation.
Open Access
Challenges and solutions in combining RP and SP data to value recreation
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2008) González-Sepúlveda, Juan Marcos, author; Loomis, John B., advisor
Valuing resources that lack a market could be a complicated endeavor due to the lack of appropriate prices. Non-market valuation methods have been the tools used to compensate for this shortcoming in the process of incorporating such resources into the economic analysis. Without these methods we would overlook the importance that such goods and services have to society and bias the related policy recommendations we present as economists. This dissertation looks at joining two of the most commonly used non-market valuation methods, namely, the Travel Cost Model (TCM) and the Contingent Valuation Method (CVM), and their application to valuing recreation in El Yunque National Forest in Puerto Rico. The combination of TCM and CVM in a joint estimator allows us to test the consistency between the two methods and uncover potential issues that each may be suffering from. The study finds that the geographical limitations of the study can cause underestimation of willingness to pay when using TCM. Furthermore, it shows that CVM can suffer from the same sampling issues as TCM when the samples are collected on site. Besides pointing out these problems, this work presents alternative ways in which they can be addressed. Finally, we provide another example that imposing a common underlying utility can significantly improve the joint use of these models.
Open Access
Comparing methodologies to estimate tourists' nonconsumptive use values of recreation, roadways and ranches: international and domestic applications
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2007) Ellingson, Lindsey Jo, author; Seidl, Andrew, advisor
The objective of this dissertation is to compare two nonmarket valuation methods to estimate tourists' nonconsumptive use values of scenic viewscapes in three applications. The two nonmarket valuation techniques analyzed are the contingent behavior and contingent valuation methods. The contingent behavior method asks respondents their intended visitation behavior contingent on a hypothetical change to the good or service in question. The contingent valuation method asks respondents their willingness to pay for a hypothetical change to the good or service in question. The three applications evaluated in this research are a National Reserve in Bolivia, a scenic roadway in Argentine Patagonia and ranch open space in Routt County, Colorado. Specifically, respondents were asked their willingness to pay and travel behavior contingent on improved park service (i.e. tourist information center and naturalist guides) at Eduardo Avaroa Reserve in Bolivia. In Argentina, visitors were asked their willingness to pay and travel behavior to Glaciers National Park contingent on differing levels of development (i.e. telecommunication and mining infrastructure) along the roadway from El Calafate, the gateway community, to Glaciers National Park. For Routt County, tourists were asked how many fewer (or more) dollars per day and number of days they would travel to Routt County if existing ranchlands were converted to urban uses (i.e. housing and other resort development). Quantitative comparative analysis is conducted across the applications to determine whether there is a difference among contingent behavior and contingent valuation responses. The results show that the two methods produce statistical and policy relevant different results. In addition, other analyses were conducted evaluating differences based on survey elicitation languages, tour package purchases, using pictures to measure different levels of development, survey responses across time and regional impact analyses.
Open Access
Valuation of natural resources in a small mountain community: three essays in non-market valuation and rural development
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2009) Cline, Sarah A., author; Seidl, Andrew, advisor
Natural resources are important to rural economies in terms of the amenities they provide and the economic opportunities they generate for the surrounding communities. In many rural areas, open space provided by ranchlands provides important amenities to tourists and residents. In addition, land use may also affect the local water quality and thus produce further impacts on local amenities and regional economic opportunities. This dissertation looks at the value of ranchland open space and water quality in Chaffee County, Colorado. The value of ranchland open space and water quality to visitors to Chaffee County is estimated using non-market valuation techniques. Two joint-methods are used to obtain values for ranchland open space and water quality. The first method combines travel cost and contingent behavior data, while the second method uses travel cost, contingent behavior and contingent valuation information to estimate values for these resources. A third application combines regional economic analysis with the non-market valuation data to estimate the impacts of decreased natural resource quality on the local economy. The results show loss of ranchland open space will result in welfare losses to visitors to the county and that associated impacts from decreased water quality could significantly increase those losses.
Open Access
Three essays on producer response to information disclosure
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2023) Yu, Shuiqin, author; Costanigro, Marco, advisor; Burkhardt, Jesse, committee member; Hoag, Dana, committee member; Cutler, Harvey, committee member
This dissertation consists of three chapters studying how information and beliefs affect producers' behavior and decision making. The first chapter studies the effect of the Local Inspector Value Entry Specification (LIVES) program on restaurant hygiene in North Carolina. The LIVES Program, a collaboration between Yelp.com and municipalities, enables the display of restaurant inspection reports on Yelp's platform, simplifying access for consumers. Combining individual restaurant inspection data and restaurant level demographic data from Yelp.com, this study employs a difference-in-difference approach and geographic regression discontinuity design to analyze the LIVES program's impact on restaurant hygiene. The difference-in-difference analysis reveals a 1.143-point improvement in inspection scores for treated restaurants. The geographic regression discontinuity method, utilizing a neighboring county as a control group, corroborates the LIVES program's positive influence. The second chapter examines the effect of online consumer reviews on restaurant workers' wages. Online consumer reviews significantly influence the demand for experience goods, including movies, books, and restaurant meals. However, research on the impact of online reviews on restaurant workers' wages remains scarce. Utilizing decade-long panel data of quarterly consumer reviews and restaurant wages, this study demonstrates that an increase in average star ratings causes restaurant workers' wage growth. Notably, the effect varies across chain, major chain, and independent restaurants. The final chapter studies how Colorado farmers' and ranchers' subjective beliefs about the cost of adoption affect their intention to implement conservation practices. Promoting the adoption of conservation practices among farmers is challenging. Despite extensive research into farmers' reluctance to participate in conservation programs, few studies investigated how farmers' personal beliefs on the cost of adopting conservation practices affect their willingness to participate in those programs. This study adds to the literature by surveying over 150 Colorado farmers on their preferences for monetary and technical support regarding conservation tillage, soil testing, filter and buffer strips, and controlled-release fertilizers. Results from a choice experiment indicate that respondents' beliefs about costs can explain a large portion of the variation in farmers' willingness to adopt conservation practices.
Open Access
Potential economic implications of a U.S. – ASEAN FTA on agriculture
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2023) Miller, Chelsey Alexandra, author; Countryman, Amanda, advisor; Hill, Alexandra, committee member; Pena, Anita, committee member
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is both an agricultural trade partner of the U.S. and a key contributor to the global agricultural market. The implementation of a free trade agreement (FTA) between the U.S. and ASEAN has the potential to reduce or eliminate tariffs on agricultural commodities. This research employs a computable general equilibrium modeling framework to simulate the economic implications of agricultural trade liberalization between the U.S. and ASEAN. Results focus on simulated changes in import quantities and prices, agricultural export sales, production, GDP, and welfare in the U.S. and ASEAN given the full elimination of tariffs on agricultural trade between the two partners. Results show that the U.S. is expected to generate a net welfare gain of $1.9 billion, while the ASEAN region is likely to have a net welfare loss of $415 million.
Open Access
The economic contribution of river recreation and tourism in the Little Yampa Canyon, Colorado
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2023) Burkard, Matthew, author; Thilmany, Dawn, advisor; Hill, Rebecca, committee member; Bayham, Jude, committee member; Guo, Tian, committee member
The Yampa River is a key driver of outdoor recreation and tourism opportunities to the city of Craig, Colorado and the surrounding Moffat County, drawing in river-based recreators and tourists from surrounding areas. So, opportunities to enhance access are important to a region that seeks to further diversify its economic portfolio in light of broader transitions occurring in the energy and agriculture sector. A land acquisition proposal by the Bureau of Land Management seeks to expand public access to the Yampa River and the nearby recreation amenities and improving highway access to the current Little Yampa Canyon Special Recreation Management Area, while protecting additional wildlife habitat and fisheries. The purpose of this research is to collect and analyze outdoor recreation and tourism spending data from resident and non-resident recreators near Craig, Colorado to ascertain one set of potential benefits of such an investment. This research employs an intercept survey at key access points along the Yampa River near the proposed land acquisition to capture recreator information such as dollar amounts spent across common expenditure categories, typical recreation habits, user perceptions of current and proposed recreational resource access and qualities, and demographic information. This paper utilizes an input-output methodology via IMPLAN to produce economic contribution estimates using data received from intercept surveys to quantify both the baseline contribution of recreation near Craig, Colorado and the potential, additional expenditure Craig would receive with an increase in local and publicly accessible recreation opportunities provided through the BLM's land acquisition. This paper also performs a sensitivity analysis to estimate economic contributions at lower levels of participation as compared to an estimated typical year. Using spending data combined with user responses, this paper seeks to provide key insights into user perceptions for consideration in future policy and management decisions impacting Moffat County's recreation and tourism economy, with insights important to greater Northwest Colorado as well.
Open Access
The recreational value and social cost of national parks: an application of the travel cost method
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2023) Lallement, Luc, author; Burkhardt, Jesse, advisor; Richardson, Leslie, committee member; Bayham, Jude, committee member; Iverson, Terry, committee member
Studies that value the natural resources and recreational opportunities of a National Park have been explored for some time. Of the myriad techniques used to determine these values, our study uses the Travel Cost Method (TCM) to estimate the consumer surplus (CS) value per-visit for several National Parks surveyed in 2022. Previous studies have typically been conducted for one site or region at a time. Our data is novel in that it contains survey results from five different National Parks as part of the first year of the Socioeconomic Monitoring Survey conducted by the National Park Service (NPS). The parks range in size, purpose, and popularity, and we examine heterogeneity in CS estimates across these differences. Many of our CS estimates are new to the TCM literature, and some provide an update to existing estimates. In addition, we use the Social Cost of Carbon (SCC) to calculate the social cost of trips to the surveyed parks. These results are used to determine the total social cost of visitation, how costs would change if social costs were incorporated into the travel cost, and finally how visitation would change in this scenario. Our methodology builds on previous literature in the TCM space by incorporating econometric techniques to address multi-purpose visitors and on-site data collection. We find that our CS estimates are in line with previous TCM estimates. When social costs are incorporated, we estimate that there would be fewer visitors to the parks when social costs exceed an individual's estimated willingness to pay, if social costs were hypothetically incorporated via a carbon tax. Our study contributes to both the methodology of TCM studies and CS estimates of use-value for natural resources and can inform future authors on how to incorporate outside data (such as the SCC) to a well-established field. In addition, our estimates can be used by the NPS to inform policy decisions and benefit-cost analysis.
Open Access
Exploring the overall, distributional and resiliency implications of investments in rural outdoor tourism: the case of Fishers Peak State Park
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2023) Schuck, Skyler, author; Thilmany, Dawn, advisor; Weiler, Stephan, committee member; Hill, Rebecca, committee member; Bayham, Jude, committee member
The recently christened Fishers Peak State Park offers great potential to give a much-needed boost to the economy of Las Animas County, specifically the town of Trinidad. State parks tend to draw tourism and may even improve the quality of life for current citizens or potential new workforce entrants (a benefit to employers), representing direct and spillover economic and societal benefits to the region. Yet, not all in the region may experience the same benefits. This paper seeks to estimate the overall and distributional income effect of the new state park through traditional empirical tourism expenditure modeling and input-output model analysis, with particular attention to and consideration for how different development approaches may affect outcomes. The framing and applied case study of this work is intended to serve as a toolkit for rural communities seeking to more holistically evaluate infrastructure development options to help them maximize the strength of key economic indicators that are keystones for economic resiliency. We seek to apply the same tourism and hospitality dependency methodology from Watson & Deller (2022) to assess resiliency in the region. But, to contribute to more nuanced understanding of the region's potential impacts, the analysis will apply a more focused lens by using refined location quotients for employment concentrations and data from the restricted QCEW, and by using both the Great Recession (2007-2009) and COVID-19 Pandemic (2019-2021) as shocks.
Open Access
Climate shocks, adaptation policies, and human health in developing countries: an application to India
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2023) Kishore, Siddharth, author; Manning, Dale, advisor; Suter, Jordan, committee member; Hill, Alexandra, committee member; Pena, Anita, committee member
My dissertation is on climate change, policy adaptation, and human health in a low-income nation. Specifically, I focus on the impact of climate change on maternal and child health in India using secondary and spatial climate data. I use an advanced econometric approach to estimate causal effects. Rural economies in developing countries revolve mainly around agriculture, and many agricultural production operations depend on monsoon rains. Food shortages due to weather-induced crop failure, and the resulting nutritional deprivation can have a negatively impact on maternal and child health. Two of my dissertation chapters are dedicated to understanding the impact of climate change on maternal and infant health. Then there are the drought-relief programs. One is a workfare program, which is very important to the developing world. One of my dissertation chapters explores how the work program may influence the use of contraceptives. My results suggest that: (1) workfare programs have an effect on the use of family planning methods for rural Indian women; (2) higher soil organic carbon moderates the adverse effect of rain shock on children's health; (3) an early childhood exposure to drought is linked to the prevalence of disability later in life. These results help us understand the impact of climate change on human health in developing countries.
Open Access
Three essays on the use of spatial data to inform environmental and resource management
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2022) Sheng, Di, author; Suter, Jordan F., advisor; Manning, Dale T., committee member; Goemans, Christopher G., committee member; Bailey, Ryan T., committee member
This dissertation consists of three essays that use of spatial data to inform trade-offs related to environmental and resource management. The first essay explores how a spatially targeted differentiated payment design can reduce the social cost of achieving a given level of ecosystem service (ES) provisions. Performance comparisons between uniform payments and differentiated payments for ecosystem services help to identify the context under which differentiated payments offer the largest advantage relative to a uniform payment. A mathematical programming model is developed to explore the performance of different payment schemes and to derive generalized lessons from simulations. Then generalized lessons are evaluated with two case studies related to water quality management. It is found that the simulations and case studies align with each other in terms of the total cost reductions, but they diverge in the payment rate choice due to the underlying distributional differences. The findings suggest that a higher payment rate for parcels that systematically provide higher levels of ES can reduce the social cost of providing the ES of interest, particularly for cases where the mean ES provision benefits across land types are different and ES provision targets are relatively low. In the second essay, I examine whether China's pilot carbon emission trading system (ETS) has the co-benefit of reducing local PM2.5 levels. Two ETS pilot provinces are selected to be the treated group, while the control group is constructed with institutional knowledge. Static and dynamic difference-in-differences designs are adopted and compared to reveal the ETS treatment effect. The spatial and temporal variation in the ETS pilot areas allows me to adopt a dynamic two-way fixed effects model to estimate heterogeneous treatment effects on the treated areas. I find that the ETS improves the local air quality in Hubei but not in Guangdong. A further analysis suggests that a sector-standards based allowance allocation mechanism can cause local air quality to deteriorate. The third essay revisits the groundwater resource value question in the Ogallala aquifer through estimation of an econometric model of agricultural land prices that includes fixed effects, with the repeated transactions from the ZTRAX data product. Saturated thickness is used to present the groundwater availability and the study includes irrigated parcels only. Heterogeneous responses in land values to groundwater stock changes are found across Colorado and Nebraska. The marginal value of groundwater stock is highest at low levels of groundwater availability, which implies that additional groundwater depletion in Colorado is more costly than depletion in Nebraska.
Open Access
Camping in clearcuts: the impacts of timber harvesting on USFS campground utilization
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2022) Wallace, Kelly, author; Suter, Jordan, advisor; Bayham, Jude, committee member; McCollum, Dan, committee member; Tulanowski, Elizabeth, committee member
The United States Forest Service (USFS) governs its lands under multiple-use management, where land is managed for more than one purpose or objective to achieve the greatest possible combination of public benefits. Some objectives are compatible, while others are not (Clawson, 1974; Rose and Chapman, 2003; USFS, 2021c). This research seeks to inform the site location of future timber harvests relative to existing campgrounds by analyzing how past and current harvests near campgrounds have influenced campground utilization. Beyond this, the research also informs the expected impacts of timber harvesting and recreation on local economies. Previous economic research related to timber harvesting's impact on nearby recreation has been carried out at a smaller spatial scale or outside the U.S., and none have focused on campgrounds specifically (Eggers et al., 2018; Harshaw and Sheppard, 2013). Past studies find that intensive forest management changes the degree of naturalness of a forest and generally negatively impacts recreation. The research we conduct builds on these studies to apply a temporally and spatially explicit model to analyze harvesting's impact on campground utilization on USFS land across the Western U.S. We find that timber harvests significantly decrease reservations during the year of harvest. Furthermore, the selection method of harvest has the most negative impact, likely due to being the most common harvesting method both overall and near campgrounds. There are regional differences in campground demand during harvesting. Additionally, there is evidence to suggest that campground reservations continue to be impacted one year after a harvest takes place. The loss in campground utilization from the reduction in reservations during harvest years can be expected to have negative impacts on nearby tourism-dependent economies.
Open Access
Analyzing the impact of Hurricane Matthew on the housing market in Savannah Georgia
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2022) Wrigley, Adam, author; Hill, Alexandra, advisor; Suter, Jordan, advisor; Iverson, Terry, committee member
This study seeks to shed light on the relationship between destructive hurricanes and public belief in the increasing risk to homeownership from these storms as climate change progresses. We investigate the impact of Hurricane Matthew on transaction prices of properties in the city of Savannah, Georgia because it is an example of a natural disaster which was unique in severity for its era but is characteristic of storms which will become more common with warmer oceans and higher sea levels (IPPC 2021). Hurricane Matthew made landfall in 2016. It was the first category 5 hurricane in the Atlantic since 2007 and occurred late in the season relative to previous hurricanes in the area. We use a hedonic modeling approach to shed light on the perceived risk and vulnerability of owning low elevation real estate by comparing property prices before and after the hurricane. We do this to speculate on whether the impact of a single storm can noticeably change the behavior of market participants in a location. Within our hedonic modeling framework, we employ several econometric specifications including a difference-in-difference regression, an event study model, and a repeated sales model. Our findings indicate that homebuyers were willing to pay a premium for more protected homes, i.e. higher elevation homes, compared with less protected homes, i.e. lower elevation homes, in the two years after the storm. This changing preference for relatively safer homes within a county, at the expense of the amenities available to the low elevation homes such as ocean views, is consistent with increased belief in the immediate dangers of climate change following a destructive event.
Open Access
Three essays on food economics
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2022) Mendis-Murukkuwadura, Sachintha Sarani, author; Bonanno, Alessandro, advisor; Berning, Joshua, committee member; Bayham, Jude, committee member; Cleary, Rebecca, committee member; Miller, Ray, committee member
This dissertation is comprised of three analyses of households' food acquisition behavior. In Chapter 2, we estimate the substitution between different food categories and time allocated to food purchase and preparation using a demand system which includes both the demand for time and that for goods, by extending the Exact Affine Stone Index-EASI (Lewbel & Pendakur, 2009). This is the first study estimating Resource Engel Curves (which characterize the relationship between "total resources" and resource share), and goods-time cross price elasticities. For this analysis we created a unique dataset by merging the 2012 American Time Use Survey (ATUS) with the National Household Food Acquisition and Purchase Survey (FoodAPS), and perform the analysis for three sub-samples of households - 1) households participating in the SNAP program, 2) SNAP-eligible households that do not participate in the program, and 3) SNAP-ineligible households. The objective of Chapter 3 is to study the relationship between time allocated to different food related activities and households' diet quality of food acquisitions measured by their Healthy Eating Index - HEI, across the distribution of HEI. We utilize the same datasets developed in Chapter 2 and an Unconditional Quantile Regression estimator to perform the analysis on the same three sub-samples of households used in Chapter 2. In Chapter 4, we assess whether households whose children are exposed to Farm-to-School Programming show different fruits and vegetables purchasing patterns than those that are not. We matched two years of the USDA Farm to School Census (2013 and 2015) to Information Resource Incorporated Consumer Network Panel household-level data on Food-At-Home fruits and vegetables expenditures. We perform our analysis focusing on sub-samples of households residing in metro and non-metro areas, as well as by households below and above 185 percent of the poverty line.