A spatial equilibrium model is used to quantify the effects of a severance tax on the Pennsylvania coal market. Two regions are identified: the Pennsylvania Market Area and an import/export region. The impacts on prices and quantities of coal supplied and demanded are found to be small. Little...

Flows of water pollutants from agricultural sources are, for all practical purposes, unobservable by direct monitoring. These flows can, however, be estimated using hydrological models. The analysis presented in this paper demonstrates that uncertainty on estimated flows is not neutral with...

The U.S . Senate Committee on the Environment and Public Works is considering legislative proposals to reduce emissions of long-range transport air pollutants which may be a major factor in acid depostion. Preliminary results indicate that these proposals will have substantial ~ pacts on coal...

In recent studies of erosion control in agricultural production it has been standard practice to use timeless or static models of agricultural production processes. In this paper implications of a dynamic model of agricultural production for erosion control decision making are compared to those...

High rates of commercial fertilizer and animal manure application on cropland have been identified as an important cause of ground and surface water degradation in many areas of the country. Suggested remedies are often based on the idea that fertilization levels are economically irrational for...

A severance tax can provide local jurisdictions with additional revenues to finance economic development, yet the imposition of a tax may create coal industry employment losses. This research analyzes this issue by examining the demand for Pennsylvania steam coal, providing estimates of the...

This paper examines the possible use of information on the relative marginal costs of point and nonpoint source water pollution abatement to assess the efficiency implications of shifting a greater portion of the burden for water quality protection to nonpoint sources. The inherent uncertainty...

The failure to allow for significant crop quality effects in a partial-equilibrium model can lead to misleading inferences about the price, output and welfare implications of air quality improvements. It has been observed that air pollutants such as ozone, sulphur dioxide, and nitrogen dioxide...