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The Economics Of Controlling A Biological Invasion

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  • Olson, Lars J.
  • Roy, Santanu

Abstract

The paper develops a simple economic model of a biological invasion. The natural growth of the invasion is non-convex and the immediate cost of controlling the invasion depends on the level of current control as well as the current size of the invasion. Greater control raises control costs today while reducing damages - now and in the future. In addition, by decreasing the size of the invasion, increased control today raises the marginal cost of control in the future. As a consequence, the optimal path of an invasion is not necessarily monotonic. When the marginal control cost declines sharply with the size of invasion, it may be optimal to allow an invasion to grow naturally before it is controlled. We characterize conditions under which it is optimal to eradicate an invasive species (immediately and eventually) and conditions under which it is optimal to manage an invasion without complete eradication.

Suggested Citation

  • Olson, Lars J. & Roy, Santanu, 2003. "The Economics Of Controlling A Biological Invasion," Working Papers 28591, University of Maryland, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:umdrwp:28591
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.28591
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Benveniste, L M & Scheinkman, J A, 1979. "On the Differentiability of the Value Function in Dynamic Models of Economics," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 47(3), pages 727-732, May.
    2. W. Davis Dechert & Kazuo Nishimura, 2012. "A Complete Characterization of Optimal Growth Paths in an Aggregated Model with a Non-Concave Production Function," Springer Books, in: John Stachurski & Alain Venditti & Makoto Yano (ed.), Nonlinear Dynamics in Equilibrium Models, edition 127, chapter 0, pages 237-257, Springer.
    3. Cheryl Brown & Lori Lynch & David Zilberman, 2002. "The Economics of Controlling Insect-Transmitted Plant Diseases," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 84(2), pages 279-291.
    4. Nyarko, Yaw & Olson, Lars J., 1991. "Stochastic dynamic models with stock-dependent rewards," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 55(1), pages 161-168, October.
    5. Olson, Lars J. & Roy, Santanu, 1996. "On Conservation of Renewable Resources with Stock-Dependent Return and Nonconcave Production," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 70(1), pages 133-157, July.
    6. Lars J. Olson & Santanu Roy, 2002. "The Economics of Controlling a Stochastic Biological Invasion," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 84(5), pages 1311-1316.
    7. Majumdar, Mukul & Mitra, Tapan, 1982. "Intertemporal allocation with a non-convex technology: The aggregative framework," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 27(1), pages 101-136, June.
    8. 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.
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    Cited by:

    1. Marten, Alex L. & Moore, Christopher C., 2011. "An options based bioeconomic model for biological and chemical control of invasive species," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(11), pages 2050-2061, September.
    2. Lars Olson & Santanu Roy, 2008. "Controlling a biological invasion: a non-classical dynamic economic model," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 36(3), pages 453-469, September.
    3. Lee, Donna J. & Motoki, Michael & Vanderwoude, Casper & Nakamoto, Stuart T. & Leung, PingSun, 2015. "Taking the sting out of Little Fire Ant in Hawaii," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 100-110.
    4. 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.

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