"Modeling Recreation Demand when the Access Point is Unknown," with Yongjie Ji, Iowa State University

Abstract: Modeling riverine type of recreation activities often suffers the lack of detailed information about the household or individual travel cost partly because we do not know the true access points. In this paper, we propose a utility compatible modeling technique and compare the performance of our approach with pre-existing approaches by conducting a series of Monte Carlo experiments. Our results show that although pre-existing approaches do not perform well enough in preference parameter estimation, they provide relatively good approximation on welfare estimate. We also apply our approach using data from 2009 Iowa River Survey.

"Land Use Consequences of Crop Insurance Subsidies and Sodsaver," with Ruiqing Miao, Iowa State University

Abstract: There have long been concerns that federal crop insurance subsidies may significantly impact land use decisions. It is well known that classical insurance market information asymmetry problems can lead to a social excess of risky land entering crop production. Our conceptual model shows that the problem will arise absent any information failures. This is because the subsidy is i) proportional to acres planted, and ii) greatest for the most production risky land. Using field level data, we follow this observation through to establish the implications of subsidies for the extent of crop production, with particular emphasis on the U.S. Prairie Pothole Region where the cropland growth is likely to have marked adverse environmental impacts. Simulation results show that were crop insurance subsidies eliminated then about 6% of land under federal crop insurance would be reallocated to grassland. Sodsaver, if applied, would reduce grassland conversion by 1.6%.