This paper uses actual enrollment and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) data in six geographically diverse states to demonstrate that enrollment rates in the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP) are a function of the incentives offered. If aggregate county land use data were used,...

Despite intense policy interest in livestock operations and water quality, only anecdotal evidence exists regarding actual manure management practices on dairy farms. This paper discuss the results of a unique mail survey of 470 New York dairy farms that links manure management practices and...

Previous research on incentive responsivness in voluntary land retirement programs has utilized either hypothetical contingent response methods or actual aggregate enrollment data, both of which suffer from potential biases. In this paper, we analyze program participation in the binary-choice...

A programming model is used to assess the welfare effects of regional and practice specifications contained in New York State's Draft Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP) proposal. Net social benefits are nearly 75% lower than options that explicitly account for opportunity costs of...

We use the non-tidal Passaic River Watershed as a case study to investigate the size of potential cost savings associated with allowing phosphorus emissions trading amongst Waste Water Treatment Plants (WWTP) to achieve a significant reduction in ambient phosphorus levels. To measure the cost...

This study investigates the influence of social preferences on voting decisions using a new Random Price Voting Mechanism (RPVM), which is best thought of as a public goods voting extension of the Becker-DeGroot-Marshack mechanism for private goods. In particular, this mechanism is used to...

The mandatory nature of generic advertising funding remains a contentious issue. Theoretically and in laboratory environments, a provision point mechanism with a money-back guarantee offers an attractive voluntary alternative to the standard voluntary contribution mechanisms, yet in practice,...

In this paper we build on a voluntary mechanism introduced by Segerson and Wu (2006) that uses the threat of an ambient tax to induce nonpoint source polluters to reduce emissions. In addition to reviewing Segerson and Wu's policy, we propose a new voluntary/threat policy that offers some...