Economic effects of ozone on US agriculture: a sector modeling approach

Thesis/Dissertation · Tue Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1985

OSTI ID:5812894

Hamilton, S A

Tropospheric ozone is a pollutant that has detrimental effects on crop yields. The level of ambient ozone can be reduced by environmental policy changes and enforcement. The purpose of this study was to estimate the welfare effects of such changes in ambient ozone using recently available plant response data and an economically consistent approach. A 25% reduction in ambient ozone was estimated to increase total welfare by approximately $1.7 billion. About 40% of the benefits accrue to producers, 25% to domestic consumers and 35% to foreign consumers. These benefits estimates do not consider compliance costs. A variety of changes in ambient ozone are considered for ranges of crop sensitivity. The analysis was conducted using a mathematical-programming sector model of the US agriculture. The model is a long-run equilibrium model encompassing regional production of the major crops and livestock products, as well as processing and export activities. Proposals for improving the performance of sector models were examined. Alternative methods for incorporating aggregate response assumptions were found to have little effect on estimates of total welfare changes but had important consequences for the distributional effects between producers and consumers.

• Research Organization: Oregon State Univ., Corvallis (USA)
• OSTI ID: 5812894
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY
290200 -- Energy Planning & Policy-- Economics & Sociology
290300 -- Energy Planning & Policy-- Environment
Health
& Safety
500200* -- Environment
Atmospheric-- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport-- (-1989)
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
AGRICULTURE
AIR POLLUTION
AIR POLLUTION ABATEMENT
CROPS
ECONOMIC IMPACT
ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY
GOVERNMENT POLICIES
INDUSTRY
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
OZONE
POLLUTION
POLLUTION ABATEMENT
YIELDS