Premium
Range Management under Uncertainty
Author(s) -
Karp Larry,
Pope Arden
Publication year - 1984
Publication title -
american journal of agricultural economics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.949
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1467-8276
pISSN - 0002-9092
DOI - 10.2307/1240922
Subject(s) - rangeland , range (aeronautics) , stocking , control (management) , markov chain , sensitivity (control systems) , rangeland management , mathematical optimization , stochastic control , computer science , markov decision process , risk management , markov process , econometrics , economics , operations research , microeconomics , mathematics , optimal control , environmental science , statistics , geography , engineering , artificial intelligence , agroforestry , forestry , finance , aerospace engineering , electronic engineering
Abstract The problem of rangeland management is modeled as a stochastic control problem. The manager periodically chooses stocking rates and decides whether to use a treatment which improves the rangeland. His decisions have an uncertain impact on the rangeland. The theory of finite Markov chains is used to analyze the solution to the control problem. The stochastic specification of the model is varied to test the sensitivity of the optimal policies. These are quite robust except at certain levels of the range condition. Cases of a risk‐neutral and risk‐averse manager are studied.