RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Multiple-Knapsack Optimization in Land Conservation: Results from the First Cost-effective Conservation Program in the United States
JF Land Economics
JO Land Econ
FD University of Wisconsin Press
SP 117
OP 130
DO 10.3368/le.92.1.117
VO 92
IS 1
A1 Kent D. Messer
A1 Maik Kecinski
A1 Xing Tang
A1 Robert H. Hirsch IV
YR 2016
UL http://le.uwpress.org/content/92/1/117.abstract
AB Conservation groups often piece together their parcel selections by combining funds from multiple sources. When applying multiple-knapsack optimization, substantial increases in conservation benefits, acreage, and number of parcels preserved can be achieved. Specifically, we show that multiple-knapsack optimization substantially outperforms benefit targeting, cost-effectiveness analysis, and sequential binary integer programming. This study uses data from the first known cost-effective land conservation program in the United States—in Baltimore County, Maryland—and shows that multiple-knapsack optimization can deliver additional benefits. (JEL D61, Q24)