Open AccessEstimating the Economic and Social Impacts from the Drought in Southern Colorado
Author(s) -
Bauman Allison,
Goemans Christopher,
Pritchett James,
McFadden Dawn Thilmany
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
journal of contemporary water research and education
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1936-704X
pISSN - 1936-7031
DOI - 10.1111/j.1936-704x.2013.03152.x
Subject(s) - agriculture , displacement (psychology) , economic impact analysis , agricultural economics , geography , representation (politics) , economic model , economics , natural resource economics , environmental science , political science , psychology , archaeology , psychotherapist , macroeconomics , microeconomics , politics , law
Over the course of the 2011 summer, 17 counties in southern Colorado were designated disaster areas due to severe drought conditions. Drought events can have large impacts on the economies of rural communities, not only directly impacting producers, but also having an indirect effect on enterprises and institutions throughout the supply chain. We use an Input‐Output model (I–O), an Equilibrium Displacement Mathematical Programming model (EDMP), and a combination of the two to quantify economic impacts and to compare results across modeling techniques. Combining the two approaches allows for a more realistic representation of the agricultural sector (via EDMP), while still allowing us to model the indirect and induced impacts on the non‐agricultural (via I–O) sectors of the economy. The estimated impact of the drought for the economy of southern Colorado ranges between $83 and $100 million.