IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/ecorec/v87y2011i276p140-152.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Optimal Time to Remove Quarantine Bans Under Uncertainty: The Case of Australian Bananas

Author

Listed:
  • ANKE LEROUX
  • DONALD MACLAREN

Abstract

Import restrictions on biological materials are used widely as protection against exotic invasive pests and pathogens. While a scientific risk assessment is needed to justify an import ban under the WTO SPS Agreement, economics plays little role in determining the choice of import regime. Using a real option framework, we model the uncertain and irreversible costs from lifting an import ban and derive decision rules about the optimal timing, when ex ante research and development yields positive but uncertain benefits. The insights gained are applied to Australia's current import policy for bananas.

Suggested Citation

  • Anke Leroux & Donald Maclaren, 2011. "The Optimal Time to Remove Quarantine Bans Under Uncertainty: The Case of Australian Bananas," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 87(276), pages 140-152, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ecorec:v:87:y:2011:i:276:p:140-152
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1111/j.1475-4932.2010.00690.x
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. James, Sallie & Anderson, Kym, 1998. "On the need for more economic assessment of quarantine/SPS policies," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 42(4), pages 1-20.
    2. Majd, Saman & Pindyck, Robert S., 1987. "Time to build, option value, and investment decisions," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 7-27, March.
    3. Abdalla, Ali & Sheales, Terry, 2005. "Approximating supply response of a commodity with limited input data: The case of Australian bananas," 2005 Conference (49th), February 9-11, 2005, Coff's Harbour, Australia 137736, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society.
    4. Christopher Costello & Carol McAusland, 2003. "Protectionism, Trade, and Measures of Damage from Exotic Species Introductions," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 85(4), pages 964-975.
    5. J. D. Mumford, 2002. "Economic issues related to quarantine in international trade," European Review of Agricultural Economics, Oxford University Press and the European Agricultural and Applied Economics Publications Foundation, vol. 29(3), pages 329-348, July.
    6. Clements, Kenneth W., 2008. "Price elasticities of demand are minus one-half," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 99(3), pages 490-493, June.
    7. Javelosa, Josyline C. & Schmitz, Andrew, 2006. "Costs and Benefits of a WTO Dispute: Philippine Bananas and the Australian Market," Estey Centre Journal of International Law and Trade Policy, Estey Centre for Law and Economics in International Trade, vol. 7(1), pages 1-26.
    8. Mérel, Pierre R. & Carter, Colin A., 2008. "A second look at managing import risk from invasive species," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 56(3), pages 286-290, November.
    9. Shogren, Jason F. & Tschirhart, John, 2005. "Integrating ecology and economics to address bioinvasions," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(3), pages 267-271, February.
    10. Saphores, Jean-Daniel M. & Shogren, Jason F., 2005. "Managing exotic pests under uncertainty: optimal control actions and bioeconomic investigations," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(3), pages 327-339, February.
    11. Perrings, Charles, 2005. "Mitigation and adaptation strategies for the control of biological invasions," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(3), pages 315-325, February.
    12. Costello, Christopher & Springborn, Michael & McAusland, Carol & Solow, Andrew, 2007. "Unintended biological invasions: Does risk vary by trading partner?," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 54(3), pages 262-276, November.
    13. McAusland, Carol & Costello, Christopher, 2004. "Avoiding invasives: trade-related policies for controlling unintentional exotic species introductions," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 48(2), pages 954-977, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Adamson, David & Cook, David, 2007. "Re-examining economic options for import risk assessments," Risk and Sustainable Management Group Working Papers 149869, University of Queensland, School of Economics.
    2. Ko, Chia Chiun & Frijters, Paul, 2014. "When Banana Import Restrictions Lead to Exports: A Tale of Cyclones and Quarantine Policies," IZA Discussion Papers 7988, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Chia Chiun Ko & Paul Frijters & Gigi Foster, 2018. "A Tale of Cyclones, Exports and Surplus Forgone in Australia's Protected Banana Industry," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 94(306), pages 276-300, September.
    4. Ederington,Josh & Ruta,Michele, 2016. "Non-tariff measures and the world trading system," Policy Research Working Paper Series 7661, The World Bank.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Paul Mwebaze & Jim Monaghan & Nicola Spence & Alan MacLeod & Martin Hare & Brian Revell, 2010. "Modelling the Risks Associated with the Increased Importation of Fresh Produce from Emerging Supply Sources Outside the EU to the UK," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 61(1), pages 97-121, February.
    2. Inaba, Masaru & Nutahara, Kengo, 2009. "The role of investment wedges in the Carlstrom-Fuerst economy and business cycle accounting," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 105(3), pages 200-203, December.
    3. Linda Fernandez & Glenn Sheriff, 2013. "Optimal Border Policies for Invasive Species Under Asymmetric Information," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 56(1), pages 27-45, September.
    4. Tu, Anh Thuy & Beghin, John & Gozlan, Estelle, 2008. "Tariff escalation and invasive species damages," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(4), pages 619-629, November.
    5. JINJI Naoto, 2009. "An Economic Theory of the SPS Agreement," Discussion papers 09033, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    6. Mérel, Pierre R. & Carter, Colin A., 2008. "A second look at managing import risk from invasive species," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 56(3), pages 286-290, November.
    7. Burnett, Kimberly M. & D'Evelyn, Sean & Kaiser, Brooks A. & Nantamanasikarn, Porntawee & Roumasset, James A., 2008. "Beyond the lamppost: Optimal prevention and control of the Brown Tree Snake in Hawaii," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(1), pages 66-74, August.
    8. Tu, Anh Thuy & Beghin, John C., 2005. "Tariff Escalation and Invasive Species Risk," 2005 Annual meeting, July 24-27, Providence, RI 19518, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    9. Giaccaria Sergio & Dalmazzone Silvana, 2010. "Socio-economic drivers of biological invasions. A worldwide, bio-geographical analysis of trade flows and local environmental quality," Department of Economics and Statistics Cognetti de Martiis. Working Papers 201003, University of Turin.
    10. Tom Kompas & Tuong Nhu Che & Pham Van Ha, 2006. "An Optimal Surveillance Measure Against Foot-and-Mouth Disease in the United States," International and Development Economics Working Papers idec06-11, International and Development Economics.
    11. Hennessy, David A., 2008. "Biosecurity incentives, network effects, and entry of a rapidly spreading pest," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(1-2), pages 230-239, December.
    12. Dalmazzone, Silvana & Giaccaria, Sergio, 2014. "Economic drivers of biological invasions: A worldwide, bio-geographic analysis," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 154-165.
    13. Olson, Lars J., 2006. "The Economics of Terrestrial Invasive Species: A Review of the Literature," Agricultural and Resource Economics Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 35(1), pages 178-194, April.
    14. David C. Cook & Shuang Liu & Brendan Murphy & W. Mark Lonsdale, 2010. "Adaptive Approaches to Biosecurity Governance," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 30(9), pages 1303-1314, September.
    15. Lichtenberg, Erik & Olson, Lars J., 2020. "Tariffs and the risk of invasive pest introductions in commodity imports: Theory and empirical evidence," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    16. Mwebaze, Paul & Monaghan, J. & Revell, Brian J. & Hare, M. & MacLeod, Alan & Spence, N., 2008. "Modeling The Risks Associated With Increased Importation Of Fresh Produce From Emerging Supply Sources To The Uk," 2008 International Congress, August 26-29, 2008, Ghent, Belgium 43963, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    17. Batabyal, Amitrajeet A. & Beladi, Hamid, 2009. "Trade, the damage from alien species, and the effects of protectionism under alternate market structures," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 70(1-2), pages 389-401, May.
    18. Warziniack, Travis W. & Finnoff, David & Shogren, Jason F., 2013. "Public economics of hitchhiking species and tourism-based risk to ecosystem services," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 35(3), pages 277-294.
    19. Jardine, Sunny L. & Sanchirico, James N., 2018. "Estimating the cost of invasive species control," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 242-257.
    20. Elofsson, Katarina & Bengtsson, Goran & Gren, Ing-Marie, 2011. "Optimal Management of Invasive Species with Different Reproduction and Survival Strategies," 2011 International Congress, August 30-September 2, 2011, Zurich, Switzerland 114343, European Association of Agricultural Economists.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    D81 ; F14 ; F18 ;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D81 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Criteria for Decision-Making under Risk and Uncertainty
    • F14 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Empirical Studies of Trade
    • F18 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Trade and Environment

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:ecorec:v:87:y:2011:i:276:p:140-152. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/esausea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.