Mountain Viewshed Protection
A current study is
examining public preferences and economic values of mountain viewsheds in WNC. The study
was funded by an internal research grant to explore the individual
preferences and economic impact of development that alters the view of
mountains. A seminar is scheduled for December 2nd to present preliminary
findings. For more information, contact Pete Groothius.
WNC Index and Report - December Release
Economic activity was flat for December 2005, remaining
unchanged from the previous month’s index of 119.5. The slowdown
corresponded to similar trends at the national level, according to Todd
Cherry, an economist at Appalachian State University. "While
regional economic activity slowed, the employment picture for the region
continued to make gains in December," Cherry said. "The number of jobs
increased, unemployment was lower, and initial claims for unemployment
also are lower." Trends for the entire year also ended on a positive
note. "Regional job growth for 2005 was just under 2 percent, which
translated to about 10,500 new jobs," Cherry said. "There are about
3,500 fewer unemployed people in the WNC workforce than a year ago."
Carbon Dioxide Emissions and Global Warming
Scenarios
Annual global CO2 emission forecasts at 2100
span 10 to 40 billion tonnes. Modeling work over the past decade has not
narrowed this range nor provided much guidance about probabilities. We
examine the time-series properties of historical per capita CO2 emissions
and conclude that per capita global emissions are stationary without
trend, and have a constant mean of 1.14 tonnes per person with standard
deviation of 0.02. Mark Strazicich, of the Department of Economics
at ASU, was invited to present this work to leading policymakers at the
Climate Policy Conference in Washington DC. For more information
contact Mark Strazicich.
Wind Energy in WNC
A recent study funded by the NC State Energy
Office sheds light on the primary issues surrounding the potential
development of utility-scale wind energy production in WNC. The
region has highly rated wind resources that could make wind energy a
viable option for energy and development, but the region also presents
many challenges for the future of wind generated energy in WNC. This
study explores the environmental and economic issues regarding wind energy
development in WNC. For more information, contact Todd Cherry.
Regional Income Growth and Convergence
This paper empirically tests if U.S.
regional per capita incomes are stochastically converging. We advance
the issue by employing a LM panel unit root test that allows for
region-specific structural breaks in compensating differentials. Both
the number and location of the breaks are endogenously determined for
each region. The results provide compelling evidence that U.S. regional
incomes are conditionally converging. [more]
How to Induce Conservation of Common
Resources in the Absence of Enforcement
Researchers have found
that voting mechanisms can help increase voluntary contributions to
public goods and conservation of common resources—provided enforcement through a third party. Not all collective
agreements, however, have guaranteed third-party enforcement (e.g.,
Kyoto). We design an experiment to explore whether a voting rule with
and without a punishment mechanism increases contributions to a public
good. Our results suggest that voting by itself does not increase
cooperation, but if voters can punish violators, contributions increase
significantly. [more]
The Arts in Watauga County
We study the economic impact of arts in
Watauga County and find people spent almost $6.2 million to attend arts
events during a given year and that they spent an additional $4.9
million on indirect expenses such as restaurants and lodging. It was
also determined that sales revenue projections for the arts were more
than $7.2 million per year while payroll expenses for all 355 arts
organizations and artists was almost $7.5 million. The resident survey
found that 55 percent of respondents were either interested or very
interested in the arts while 34 percent we not interested at all. The
study concluded that the average amount county residents were willing to
pay every year to continue the level of the arts was $15 per taxpayer
for a total value of almost $540,000. [more]
Integrated and Sustainable Ocean
Observation Systems
The South East Atlantic Coastal Ocean
Observing System (SEACOOS) collects, manages and disseminates coastal
oceanic and atmospheric observation information along the Atlantic coast
of the southeastern United States. This paper estimates the benefits of
SEACOOS information in eleven benefit categories. Following a methodology
used in similar studies of other U.S. coastal regions, we evaluate the
impacts of conservative changes in economic activity in each sector. The
annual economic benefit of SEACOOS information is $170 million (2003 $'s),
an estimate that falls between annual benefits of $33 million for the Gulf
of Maine region and $381 million for the Gulf of Mexico.
The Clean Air Act
We examine whether
air quality regulation ignores important
spatial considerations of transboundary air pollution. Is there a
disconnect between who is punished and who is responsible for exceeding
air quality limits? Can air quality regulation be more effective by
refocusing incentives to geographical areas that share the same air rather
than arbitrary county delineations? [more]
Assortive Mating and The Marriage Wage
Premium
We develop a model of intellectual labor
augmentation to explain both the marriage wage premium and educational
assortative mating. We suggest that husbands and wives are complementary
factors of production where a spouse’s education and skills augment
their partner’s productivity and earnings potential. This proposition is
tested using data from the 2000 U.S. Census of Population and the 2003
Current Population Survey. Our results indicate that for working couples
the marriage premium for husbands and wives is directly related to the
education level of their spouses -- suggesting that positive assortative
mating may be attributable to the labor market effects of intellectual
augmentation of married households. [more]
Labels and Bans on GMO Foods
Applying an experiment on the choice of
consumer goods we show that Swedish consumers do not regard GMO food as
being equivalent to conventional food. A central argument by proponents of
GMO is that the end products are identical to those where GMO has not been
used. That respondents in our survey disagree with this argument is
supported by two observations. First, a positive significant WTP is found
for a mandatory labeling policy. This result confirms previous
observations that GMO food can be a credence good causing a market
failure. Second, consumers are also willing to pay a significantly higher
product price to ensure a total ban on the use of GMO in animal fodder.
Even if scientists and politicians argue that most of today’s GMO food is
indistinguishable from GMO free food, the consumers disagree.
[more]
MORE INQUIRIES