HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Amacher, G. S. Articles by Haight, R. G. Search for Related Content

Reducing Social Losses from Forest Fires

We evaluate two financial incentives to encourage nonindustrial forest landowners to undertake activities that mitigate fire losses: sharing of fire suppression costs by the landowner and sharing of fuel reduction costs by the government. First and second best outcomes are identified and compared to assess the effectiveness of these incentives in reducing social losses and fire suppression costs, under various assumptions about landowner behavior and information. We find that while cost sharing of fire suppression by the landowner invariably reduces social losses, this is not always true for government cost sharing of landowner fuel reduction. However, cost sharing of fuel reduction can yield larger reductions in social losses when fire risk is high. Both policies tend to induce larger reductions in both social losses and fire suppression costs when landowners engage in fuel reduction. We find that improving a landowner’s information about fire risk and fuel reduction can yield substantial reductions in social losses. (JEL Q23, Q54)