An approach is present which integrates an economic and an ecological model for designing cost-effective compensation payments for conservation of endangered species in real landscapes. The approach is used to develop a cost-effective compensation payment scheme for conservation of an endangered...

We investigate empirically trade-offs between improving the cost-effectiveness of an agri-environment scheme (AES) and its distributional impacts, applying the criteria of equality (equal payments), equity (equal producer surplus), and the Rawlsian maximin criterion (here understood as...

Designing agri-environmental schemes targeted at conservation poses the key question of how many financial resources should be allocated to address a particular aim such as the conservation of an endangered species. Economists can contribute to an answer by estimating the 'optimal level of...

Payments for ecosystem services (PES) and agri-environmental schemes (AES) are often introduced with the goal to counteract overexploitation of natural habitats and biodiversity loss in forests and agricultural landscapes. Their ecological effectiveness and cost-effectiveness have been, however,...