This paper presents a model in which open space is assumed to provide external benefits to residents of adjacent municipalities, and utility-maximizing municipal planners are assumed to act strategically in recognizing the benefits of neighboring open space and planning their own open-space...

This article investigates how land-use regulations differentially influence suburban versus rural-residential development. Particular emphasis is placed on how both the provision of municipal services (e.g., sewer and water) and zoned maximum density constrain higher-density residential...

This paper examines a Massachusetts policy that encourages communities to raise money through referenda for preservation and affordable housing. I use difference-indifferences, fixed effects, and quantile regression to compare home prices before and after such referenda in two towns. I include...

Zoning is a widely used tool to manage residential growth. Estimating the effect of zoning on development, however, is difficult because zoning can be endogenous in models of land conversion. We compare three econometric methods that account for selection bias in a model of land conversion: a...

In this paper we estimate the external cost caused by odor from an animal waste processing facility in Flanders, using new odor measures based on field measurements. We compare four ways of incorporating odor nuisance: distance to the source, distance zones, continuous odor measures, and odor...

This paper identifies the factors that affect farmers’ decisions to adopt soil and water conservation technology in Africa and how this technology impacts farm yields and net returns. This technology is important because it improves efficiency of water use from rainfall—a critical issue in...

We outline the determinants of local public policies for farmland preservation and urban expansion. We first rely on the literature and on a purposely designed field study of municipalities in southern France to propose a theoretical framework better suited to the French situation. The model...

This article considers optimal livestock management on sagebrush rangeland in the presence of invasive plants, wildfire, and reversible and irreversible ecological thresholds. We find that ranchers operating on healthy rangeland have sufficient private incentive to maintain rangeland health,...

A model for the recovery of an endangered species is developed and applied to the red-cockaded woodpecker (Picoides borealis), a species once abundant in the southeastern United States. There is a finite set of recovery actions that might be implemented in each period, with the goal of reaching...