Subject: Linking Dynamic Economic and Ecological General Equilibrium Models   (video)

Speakers: David Finnoff and John Tschirhart, University of Wyoming
When:  Monday, February 13, 2006, 9 AM
Where: Bldg. 4, Jim Traynor Seminar Room, AFSC,

Dear Colleagues: We’re pleased to offer you the second installment of the 2006 AFSC Seminar Series, which highlights center-wide research relevant to ecosystem management.  The research presented in this seminar is quite novel and ambitious, as it develops an integrated model of the Alaska economy and ecosystem.  This talk gives an illustration of some cutting-edge interdisciplinary research that combines natural and social sciences. 

David Finnoff and John Tschirhart of the University of Wyoming are presenting this seminar as the first component of an all-day workshop in which they are working with economists and members of the Resource Ecology & Ecosystem Modeling group to improve this ongoing effort to integrate economics and ecosystem management.

Linking Dynamic Economic and Ecological General Equilibrium Models

David Finnoff                            John Tschirhart
finnoff@uwyo.edu                    jtsch@uwyo.edu
University of Wyoming
Department of Economics and Finance
Department 3985 • 162 Ross Hall
University of Wyoming
Laramie, WY  82071

Abstract

Although ecosystems provide myriad services to economies, only one service is considered in most renewable-resource models. The bioeconomic model introduced here admits a second service, and more importantly it accounts for how the two services are impacted by interactions within an thirteen species marine ecosystem and interactions within a regional economy. Endangered Steller sea lion recovery measures via alternative pollock quotas are shown to cause altered levels of all ecosystem populations, and altered levels of all economic variables. While non-use values associated with the ecosystem (e.g., existence values) are not considered, all species matter for the economy because they are all used indirectly as support for ecosystem services. Regional welfare gains from reduced quotas are in part due to the economy relying less on resource extraction and more on non-extraction.