This paper incorporates a rich set of physical water quality attributes, as well as site and household characteristics, into a model of recreational lake usage in Iowa. Our analysis shows individuals are responsive to physical water quality measures. Willingness-to-pay estimates are reported...

In this paper, we study the social efficiency of private carbon markets that include trading in agricultural soil carbon sequestration when there are significant co-benefits (positive environmental externalities) associated with the practices that sequester carbon. Likewise, we investigate the...

This report presents summary statistics and other results of a survey of Clear Lake visitors and residents. Drawing on survey results, the authors present information on recreational usage of the lake, attitudes of recreators and local residents toward possible watershed management changes, and...

Understanding how Iowans view the benefits and costs of wetlands preservation is key to making decisions about the future of wetlands in Iowa. To that end, the authors created "The Iowa Wetlands Survey." How the survey was designed and administered is described and the results are summarized....

Improved assessment of flow, sediment, and nutrient losses from watersheds with computer simulation models is needed in order to identify and control nonpoint source pollution. One model, currently under consideration by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for watershed assessments, is the...

The growth in federal conservation programs has created a need for policy modeling frameworks capable of measuring micro-level behavioral responses and macro-level landscape changes. This paper presents an empirical model that predicts crop choices, crop rotations, and conservation tillage...

Land use changes to sequester carbon also provide "co-benefits," some of which (for example, water quality) have attracted at least as much attention as carbon storage. The non-separability of these co-benefits presents a challenge for policy design. If carbon markets are employed, then social...

The authors model the recreation demand for Iowa wetlands, combining survey data on both actual usage patterns (i.e., revealed preferences) and anticipated changes to those patterns under hypothetical increases in trip costs (i.e., stated preferences). They formulate and test specific hypotheses...

Nonpoint-source pollution remains a troubling source of water quality problems despite decades of economics research on the matter. Among the chief difficulties for addressing the issue are the property rights assignments implicit in the current policy environment that favor agricultural...

The task of modeling the recreation demand for geographically large sites, such as rivers and beaches or large parks with multiple entrances, is often challenged by incomplete information regarding the access point used by the individual. Traditionally, analysts have relied upon convenient...