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Preserving Waterfowl Habitat on the Canadian Prairies: Economic Incentives versus Moral Suasion
Author(s) -
Kooten G. C.,
Schmitz Andrew
Publication year - 1992
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 - 10.2307/1242992
Subject(s) - incentive , waterfowl , subsidy , payment , willingness to pay , nonmarket forces , habitat , willingness to accept , compensation (psychology) , business , contingent valuation , order (exchange) , incentive program , natural resource economics , public economics , economics , ecology , finance , microeconomics , market economy , psychology , factor market , psychoanalysis , biology
This paper examines a pilot project of NAWMP that encourages farmers to promote or maintain waterfowl habitat by relying not only on economic incentives but on awareness, education, and moral suasion. The pilot project relies on farmers' attitudes to keep payments low because project payments substitute for grain program subsidies, thus constituting a transfer from Canadian taxpayers to U.S. contributors to NAWMP. A survey instrument and regression analysis are used to examine attitudes, economic incentives, and willingness to pay and willingness to accept compensation for modifying land use in order to conserve waterfowl habitat. The results indicate that current economic incentives offered to agricultural producers are inadequate because they ignore nonmarket costs, and that a positive attitude toward habitat preservation cannot be used as a substitute for monetary incentives.