Several benefit-cost analysis opportunities from the CBO

What is the value of a wolf? What is the value of a crane? What is the value of a praire chicken? What is the value of a marine mammal?

• H.R. 1464, Great Cats and Rare Canids Act of 2007
• H.R. 1771, Crane Conservation Act of 2008
• H.R. 3930, Lesser Prairie Chicken National Habitat Preservation Area Act of 2008
• S. 2657, A bill to require the Secretary of Commerce to prescribe regulations to reduce the incidence of vessels colliding with North Atlantic right whales by limiting the speed of vessels, and for other purposes

Note: make sure you use a stated preference method (no enough folks have revealed preferences for wolves, cranes, chickens and whales) and do a literature search (related work has already been done).

Comments

[LFLIATWP]

I think cranes are very important. They help build buildings, bridges, roads, etc. We should protect them.

Sorry, I had to add some bad humor to the comments section after the firestorm my email set off between you(John) and Odo

[John Whitehead]

Looking,

Good point. you can get a good construction crane for $60,000. you don't need a stated preference study if there are market prices!

[odograph]

I most love me some economists if I spend three hours this morning reading their news.

Here's one you guys will like:

Ethanol Fantasy Fuels a Food-Price Nightmare

I was wrong in my predictions here that the ethanol backlash would be swift. It is building much slower than I expected.

[odograph]

Got another one for you, from USA Today:

"Record high gas prices are prompting Americans to drive less for the first time in nearly three decades, squeezing family budgets and causing major shifts in driving habits, federal data and a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll show."

[Jarad Niemi]

Back on topic and a couple of days too late.

I'm a statistician and not an economist, but I think there should not be a single number describing the value of a wolf. Rather it should depend inversely and nonlinearly on the size of the wolf population. If there are only two wolves, one male and one female, left in the world, then their value should be incredibly high. Whereas if there are several million wolves around, then the value of an individual wolf should be much less.

I'm not at all familiar with the literature in this area, so I'm sure that somebody has done research on this.