Ba. Babcock et al., THE ECONOMICS OF A PUBLIC FUND FOR ENVIRONMENTAL AMENITIES - A STUDY OF CRP CONTRACTS, American journal of agricultural economics, 78(4), 1996, pp. 961-971
The problem of targeting CRP purchases to buy environmental amenities
under productivity and environmental heterogeneity is considered. Gini
coefficients and Lorenz curves are used to measure the effectiveness
of spending under alternative targeting criteria. The environmental be
nefits considered are water erosion, wind erosion, surface water quali
ty, and wildlife habitat. The three alternative targeting criteria exa
mined include purchasing land according to ii) the benefit-to-cost rat
io, (ii) the level of benefits, and (iii) the level of cost; Results i
ndicate that the degree of variability and correlation determine the e
xtent to which suboptimal targeting achieves a significant portion of
available environmental benefits.