General Equilibrium Ecosystem Modeling with Alternative Preference Specifications

Title: General Equilibrium Ecosystem Modeling with Alternative Preference Specifications
Format: Journal Article
Publication Date: May 2014
Published In: Natural Resource Modeling
Description:

This paper reconciles two sets of literature with regard to the interactive ecological and economic impacts of invasive grass species and cattle stocking. We model cattle as optimal foragers, satiation foragers, and proportional foragers in order to understand the impact that each assumption imposes on predicted economic and ecological outcomes. Through this model sensitivity (as opposed to parameter sensitivity) analysis, we are able to identify three main drivers of plant invasions: exogenous forces such as climate change or nitrogen deposition, poor land management decisions, and a misalignment of incentives between cattle and ranchers even when ranchers behave optimally.

Ivan Allen College Contributors:
External Contributors: Aaron Strong
Citation:

Strong, Aaron and Matthew E. Oliver. "General Equilibrium Ecosystem Modeling with Alternative Preference Specifications." Natural Resource Modeling 27.2 (2014): 197-215.

Related Links:
Related Departments:
  • School of Economics