The realisation that the world's oceans play an important role in climate regulation and many territory activities, notably food production, coupled with economic changes and the rapid advancement in ocean technology have seen a shift in the perception of the importance of marine resources. This...

This paper presents a simulation-based modelling approach for estimating total visitor numbers and amenity values for prospective non-priced open-access outdoor recreation sites. To begin, the geographic extent of the market for recreation at a policy site is estimated using data from a similar...

This paper describes a flexible computing framework designed to create a dynamic microsimulation model, the Life-cycle Income Analysis Model (LIAM). The principle computing characteristics include the degree of modularisation, parameterisation, generalisation and robustness. The paper describes...

Using statistical matching techniques, economists can now create attribute rich datasets by matching across the common variables in two or more datasets. The farm level spatial microsimulation model developed in this paper uses one of many combinational optimisation techniques – simulated...

Farmers participating in agri-environmental schemes (AESs) that are aimed at protecting biodiversity should ideally make decisions relating to the ecological management of their farms based on the habitat types found on their farms. In reality, a variety of economic, demographic, farm and farmer...

The measurement of travel costs in recreational demand modeling has been a contentious issue for many decades. This article explores the use of a number of alternative methods of incorporating time costs in the travel cost modeling process. Travel cost values where the opportunity cost of time...

Contingent valuation has been used extensively in estimating the value of environmental goods. One criticism of this approach, however, is that respondents in referendum-style contingent valuation surveys may express citizen assessments that take into account benefits to others rather than...

In this paper we outline the development of a spatial microsimulation model that uses a combinational optimisation technique called simulated annealing to match the Irish Census of Agriculture data to a National Farm Survey (NFS). The matched NFS and Census information is then used to produce...