Public economics of hitchhiking species and tourism-based risk to ecosystem services

Travis Warziniack, David Finnoff and Jason Shogren

Resource and Energy Economics, 2013, vol. 35, issue 3, 277-294

Abstract: This paper is the first to examine the public economics of export-based externalities arising within the provisioning of ecosystem services, with direct application to policies to prevent the spread of hitchhiking invasive species. We find when risk enters through exports, policy makers face a tradeoff between welfare improvements and reducing risk of invasion. Estimates of visitor demand elasticity for ecotourism are low, so price policies are not likely to reduce risk, though they can raise tax revenue. If demand is elastic enough to reduce risk, trade effects can cause loss of income greater than the risk of the invasion. The paper is motivated by the expansion of invasive species’ within the United States. We apply our model to the specific example of quagga and zebra mussels invasion into the U.S. Pacific Northwest.

Keywords: Environmental regulation; Tax interactions; Invasive species; Environment and trade; Zebra mussels (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F18 Q20 Q26 Q27 Q56 Q57 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:resene:v:35:y:2013:i:3:p:277-294

DOI: 10.1016/j.reseneeco.2013.02.002

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