The welfare impacts of a conservation easement are examined in a real options model. The size of the easement payment to the landowner largely determines the efficiency of the easement outcome. An inefficiently small payment results in states where rejection of the easement by the landowner...

In this paper we present the economic determinants of the optimal length of a carbon offset contract. We find that because of a declining capacity of the soil to sequester carbon, the optimal length of the carbon contract is finite (the marginal benefit of remaining in the contract is declining...

As part of efforts to restore the Everglades, in 2008, Governor Crist of Florida proposed the acquisition of 187,000 acres of land from the U.S. Sugar Corporation (U.S. Sugar) for this purpose, but the final purchase in August 2010 totaled only 26,800 acres. This article presents the history...

This article analyzes the impact of removing the U.S. tobacco program in both a partial and general welfare economics framework. In a partial-equilibrium framework, a consumer taxfunded quota buyout can result in producer gains, consumer losses, net losses resulting from higher prices, and...

Policy analysis is complicated by the myriad of benefits and costs generated by the use of natural resources. This study develops three benefits that must be considered in the granting of a consumptive use permit for water filed by Adena Springs Ranch, east of Ocala, Florida. This ranch is...

Tariff and non-tariff barriers are widespread as applied to agricultural trade. The theory of gains from trade considers the impacts of free trade relative to no trade and to non-tariff barriers, while the theory of agricultural policy generally places little weight on the international trading...

This document is the technical annex to the full paper “The Complexities of the Interface between Agricultural Policy and Trade†which is available separately.