Browsing by Author "Thunberg, Eric M."
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- A decision model to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of alternative Virginia oyster grounds management strategiesThunberg, Eric M. (Virginia Tech, 1985-09-15)Public and private concern over the decline of Virginia's oyster industry prompted the General Assembly (GA) in 1977 and 1983 to commission its Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC) to examine the State's oyster grounds management policies. In response to JLARC's findings the GA directed Virginia Marine Resources Commission (VMRC) to construct and implement an oyster fisheries management plan. The GA set as the plan's objective to achieve the greatest production level possible subject to limits of physical resource availability and technical feasibility. That the plan should be attentive to cost-effectiveness was also expressed by the GA. In developing its management plan VMRC must consider a variety of environmental, economic and political factors affecting the production and harvest of market oysters. A linear programming model developed for VMRC's use in evaluating alternative oyster grounds management strategies is described. The objective of the programming model is to minimize the public plus private cost of producing a prespecified level of market oyster harvest over a ten year planning horizon. The model includes as its activities the different aquacultural techniques used by private planters and VMRC in its repletion program. The many environmental, economic and political factors are incorporated into the model's constraints and technical coefficients. Several management alternatives are evaluated with the model. The results of these analyses indicate that without a fundamental in the oyster repletion program, even if new oyster grounds management policies are considered, there would be little change in public grounds market oyster harvest over current levels. Under revised repletion program practices, however, marked increases in public grounds harvest could be effected for relatively small increases in repletion program budget allocations over current levels.
- An evaluation of alternative strategies for Virginia oyster grounds management : economic considerations in policy designShabman, Leonard A.; Thunberg, Eric M. (Virginia Agricultural Experiment Station, 1988)
- Willingness to pay for property and nonproperty flood hazard reduction benefits: an experiment using the contingent value survey methodThunberg, Eric M. (Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1988)The Water Resources Development Act of 1986 has increased attention to the ability of flood control benefit assessment methods to serve the joint need of assessing the economic and financial feasibility of a project. The Contingent Value Method is identified as an alternative flood control benefit assessment method. The findings of a case study to test the potential for the Contingent Value Method to be used in future flood control benefit assessment studies is presented. An empirical analysis of willingness to pay offers is conducted to determine the importance of property and nonproperty considerations in willingness to pay is also presented. The study findings suggest that landowners are willing to pay for the property effects and the effects of flood control on the community at large. The study findings do not support a relationship between willingness to pay for flood control and the landowner's level of anxiety over the prospect of future flooding. The findings do suggest that the contingent value method has the potential to be applied to flood control. Prior to any such application, however, several survey design and implementation issues need to be addressed.