Session Questions
Please address the following questions after reading the session notes below. In addition, perform additional research if possible and list all references.
This session’s lecture strongly suggests that the economically efficient rate of harvest is less than the maximum sustainable yield. Compare and contrast these two criteria.
Can you find an example of natural resource policies (in the USA or elsewhere) that attempt to achieve efficient rates of harvest for renewable resources?
Session Notes
Renewable resources generally involve biological populations that continually replenish themselves (e.g., forests and fisheries). These resources are often described as interactive since a given population is jointly determined by both biological and social considerations. As a biological consideration, the growth or decline of a biological population generally depends on the size of that population. For example, a population that is reduced below a critical level may be unable to sustain itself and therefore becomes extinct. An obvious social consideration is the rate of harvest, which affects the biological population size. In turn, the current biological population size influences future rates of harvest. Thus, our allocation decisions (how much to harvest and when) determine the flow of these renewable resources over time.
This interrelationship raises at least two interesting questions.
What is the economically efficient rate of harvest for a renewable resource?
Can markets achieve that efficient rate of harvest?
First we describe a basic model of population dynamics. Then we explore the economic efficiency implications that arise from that model.
A Basic Model of Population Dynamics
A generally accepted model of population dynamics was originally proposed by Schaefer in 1957. While more sophisticated models have been developed since then, Schaefer’s model first described the essential population responses to alternative harvest…