A common rule in many countries for mitigating the damage caused by African swine fever (ASF) is to eradicate the virus at the outbreak in order to prevent its dispersal and the associated social costs of depopulating infected domestic pigs. The economic performance of this practice, as measured by five different evaluation criteria (net present value, benefit-cost ratio, rate of return, internal rate of return, and payback time), depends on the type of control cost and the spatial and dynamic allocation of benefits, i.e. avoided losses from infected domestic pig farms. The present paper calculates the direct and indirect costs of immediate control measures during an ASF outbreak in wild boars in Mid Sweden. The direct costs include expenses incurred for surveillance, laboratory tests, depopulation of wild boar etc., while the indirect costs are borne by firms and people in the area in relation to movement restrictions. The calculations showed that the total cost of control measures amounted to 28 million euros, with indirect costs making up 40 % of this figure. The benefits were greatly dependent on the speed of ASF dispersal and assumptions about pig farmers' investment responses, which implied large variations in each of the five evaluation criteria.

This paper designs a trading market for uncertain carbon removal from uptake and reduced leakage by restoration of drained peatland, forest management and afforestation in the EU countries. A cost-efficient design of the quantification of carbon removals takes uncertainty into account by introducing a risk premium that differs between countries and measures. Given the cost-efficient design with risk premiums, the marginal and total costs of achieving carbon removal targets for the EU are higher with reliability concern than without because of the larger carbon removals in order to ensure the achievement of a target at a given probability. The results show large differences in costs after trading where some countries meet high costs and other countries make net gains by selling carbon credits on the market. An evaluation of the EU's regulation on legally binding carbon sink assignments for different countries shows that the total cost of a cost-efficient flexibility with trade could be reduced by 50% compared with no trade, and that all countries benefit from such a change.

Few studies have acknowledged and quantified the economic contribution in expenditures of recreational fisheries. Additional economic value attributed to fishers' willingness to pay (WTP) for recreational fisheries in excess of expenses was estimated for 33 countries in Europe. Benefit transfer was used in a meta-regression analysis of 184 studies and 1001 observations of WTP per day for recreational fisheries. Most studies of fishing were in the USA, but also in Europe, Australia, New Zealand, South America and Canada. Mixed-effects regression models were estimated with income, climate variables, population density and study characteristics as explanatory variables. Income and temperature positively affected WTP per day. Benefit transfers with these variables and different transfer methods among European countries showed that the estimated total WTP could amount to 11.4 billion USD (purchasing power parity corrected to 2020 prices). Variation in WTP per day was large, and ranged 9-62 USD among countries and transfer methods. For several countries, WTP for recreational fisheries exceeded 0.1% of gross domestic product.

Abstract The COVID-19 pandemic and geopolitical conditions in 2022–2023 highlighted the vulnerabilities of food supply chains to trade disruptions in agricultural inputs and foods, with the ensuing economic effects on producers and consumers. This study calculated the impact of various disruptions in the trade of agricultural inputs and outputs for Swedish producers and consumers and for food security. To this end, a mathematical programming model of the food sector with a spatial dimension was applied, which accounts for adjustments and interactions between producers and consumers of food. Food security is measured in terms of the self-sufficiency ratio, the ability to produce minimum dietary needs, and economic access for low-income households. The trade scenarios included disruptions to imports of agricultural inputs (fertilisers, fuel, feed, pesticides and foreign labour) and foods. The results showed that the economic effects for producers can be considerable, with a reduction in producer surplus by up to 75%. The decrease in consumer surplus is smaller, amounting to a maximum decrease of 21%. The self-sufficiency ratio and the ability to produce minimum dietary needs can be reduced by 55% and 61%, respectively, but may rise if the disruption to feed imports increases. Economic access to foods is slightly decreased in all scenarios. These results showing different impacts of trade disruptions on producers and consumers and food security metrics highlight the need to undertake extensive assessments to determine whether and how to prevent and mitigate their effects. The economic effects on producers and consumers and the associated impacts on food security are likely to differ, which affects the selection and targeting of policies, such as compensation for economic losses and promotion of food security.

The food security value of wild meat is calculated by combining proxy methods for quantifying game animal abundance with shadow pricing techniques for assessing the unit values of food security. This study calculated the food security values of moose, roe deer, wild boar, and fallow deer for Sweden overall and for individual counties. The results showed that meat from these animal populations accounts for approximately 9% of meat consumption in Sweden and for 1.2% of the minimum energy food consumption during periods of crisis for the whole of Sweden, while in some counties it can be as much as 8%. The calculated unit value, or shadow price, of the minimum energy requirement ranged between € 0.1 and € 4.2/mcal, depending on the magnitude of the crisis scenario. At most, the total food security value of actual animal population sizes amounted to 0.50 billion euros, but this was unevenly distributed, with high values in counties that have an abundance of moose and wild boar.

Despite the similarities in the drop and recovery patterns of US and EU meat production during the Covid19 pandemic, the literature in the two continents assessed their respective meat processing industries' resilience differently - resilient in the EU and non-resilient in the US but offered no resilience metrics in support of their assessments. We cast the differing transatlantic views in the context of the economic resilience literature and operationalize several metrics for cattle, pig, and chicken slaughter. We find the US less resilient than the EU in cattle and pig slaughter. Resilience in chicken slaughter depends on which metric is used. We discuss

Hunters' valuations of recreational hunting have been estimated by a large number of location-specific studies since the early 1970s, but to date there has been no systematic assessment of this research at the global scale. The present study performed a meta-analysis of 80 studies with 588 value-per-day estimates. The assessment showed a high concentration of studies pertaining to the valuation of deer and the valuation of hunting in the USA. The average value was USD 69 /hunting day in 2020 prices, but the variation was large, ranging from USD 4 to 325 /hunting day. The statistical performance of alternative mixed-effect models explaining the estimated value differences was tested with different hunting attributes (targeted game animal); context variables (income/capita, population density, year of study, region of application); and study characteristics (valuation method, publication outlet). The results showed that the type of game animal, income per capita, and valuation method had significant effects on estimated values. The predictive power was high for all models, supporting the application of the meta-analysis results to guide the management of hunting where primary valuation studies have not been undertaken, in particular outside the USA.

Motives for fishing differ among fishers, which may imply different effects of climate change on the net values of fishing. Climate change has impacts on fish population dynamics and on other factors in the fishers’ harvest decision, such as alternative sources of food or income. Here we present a bio-economic model that includes impacts of climate change on fish population and on net values of harvest by fishers with recreational or subsistence fishing motives. The conceptual analysis shows that the economic effects of climate change with simultaneous impacts on fish population growth and harvest values are inconclusive with common fishing access for both fisher types and when there are opposite simultaneous climate effects with exclusive access for one of the fisher types. Numerical results from our model of Arctic char ( Salvelinus alpinus ) in northern Sweden indicate that climate change, measured as temperature increases, reduces fish population growth but increases net values of fishing for both fisher types. The combined net effect of these counteracting forces is that annual net values can almost cease for the subsistence fisher in the future but increase considerably for the recreational fisher.

Various restoration projects intended to mitigate the adverse ecological effects of hydropower plants, e.g. by restoration of fish habitats and spawning grounds, have been implemented in different parts of the world. However, it is unclear whether these projects are in line with least-cost principles. In this study, we estimated the cost efficiency level for different biodiversity mitigation measures in Sweden by using stochastic frontier analysis with data from 245 projects in Sweden that were carried out between 1987 and 2013. The results indicated evidence of cost inefficiency in the projects, which had an average efficiency score of 53%, suggesting a potential to reduce costs by 47%. Project ownership by private entities compared with municipalities showed a statistically significant reduction of the cost inefficiency score. This points out a possibility of reducing the total cost of restoration by targeting relatively efficient project owners.

Shipping is regarded as an important vector for aquatic non-indigenous species (ANIS) worldwide. Less attention has been paid to its role in relation to environmental and economic causes of introduction and establishment, the knowledge of which is necessary to assess effects of changes in regulations on shipping. The purpose of this study was to estimate the impact of shipping on the incidence of ANIS in the Baltic Sea compared with environmental and economic factors. To this end, a production function was estimated with count data on ANIS (response variable) and shipping, environmental and economic factors as explanatory variables. Regression results from different regression models showed that shipping has a significant impact on ANIS incidence and can account for up to 38% of the number of ANIS in the sea. Predictions of the impact of measures implementing the Convention for the Control and Management of Ships' Ballast Water and Sediment indicated a reduction by 17% in the number of ANIS, which was counteracted by an expected increase in shipping traffic.

Mechanization in agriculture has greatly improved the efficiency of field operations, but also resulted in heavier agricultural vehicles, which has led to increased risks of soil compaction. Hence, farmers benefit from machinery with higher capacity but may suffer from decreased yields caused by compaction. Compaction may result in further environmental costs to society. We present a framework that relates the machinery capacity to soil compaction and its impacts on crop yields and environmental disservices, and associated revenues and costs for farmers and society. We combined simulations using a soil compaction model and a soil-crop model with simple economic analyses. We applied the framework to a case study of cereal production in Sweden, to derive the optimal combine harvester size that maximizes the farmer's private profit and the societal net benefit, respectively. Increased machinery size decreased harvesting costs, but also reduced simulated crop yields and thus crop revenue as a result of soil compaction. Furthermore, in the model simulations, compaction also increased surface run-off, nitrogen leaching and greenhouse gas emissions. Intermediate machinery size maximized the farmer's net revenue. Net benefits for society were highest for the lowest possible compaction level, due to the considerable external costs from soil compaction. We show that the optimal machinery size and thus compaction level for maximum farmer revenue would decrease if either producer prices were higher, harvesting costs savings from larger machinery were smaller, or if farmers were charged for (part of the) environmental costs.

This study estimates the minimum total cost and distributional effects among countries transforming the car fleet in the EU to reduce emissions of carbon dioxides by 2050 by switching from fossil fuel-driven passenger cars to hybrid and electric-driven cars. Minimum cost is estimated using a dynamic optimization model in which costs are calculated as decreases in consumer surplus in the demand for vehicles under given annual increases in travel demand, carbon efficiency and technological improvement of electric cars. Distributional effects are calculated for the cost-effective allocation of costs among the EU member states and UK. Calculations are made for different emission reductions, and the cost for achieving a 60% reduction from the 1990 emission level ranges between 0.13% and 0.61% of the EU’s GDP depending on assumptions about development of travel demand and carbon efficiency. The results indicate a slightly regressive allocation in most scenarios, where the cost share is relatively high for low income countries.

This paper examines the implications of imposing a climate tax on food consumption in Sweden combined with refunding of the tax revenues to farmers for selected agricultural activities enhancing ecosystem services: restoration of drained peatland (carbon sequestration), maintenance of grassland (biodiversity), and construction of wetlands (nutrient regulation). A partial equilibrium model of the agricultural sector is used to assess economic and environmental effects. The results show that the introduction of a climate tax corresponding to the existing Swedish CO2 tax of 115 euros per tonne carbon dioxide equivalent reduces total emissions from food consumption by 4.4% without any refunding of tax revenues. Refunding with payments for all ecosystems enhances the carbon sink by an amount equivalent to 57% of CO2e emissions from food consumption, and results in net benefits in the tax refund system for the agricultural sector as a whole, but is regressive where farmers in regions with relatively high incomes receive proportionally much of the net benefits.

This study addresses economic and ecological aspects related to aquatic invasive species occurrence and spread. The relative importance of these two factors driving the probability of occurrence of Elodea canadensis species in lakes of Sweden is quantified. Night-time lights data, a proxy for economic activity, is generated from satellite imagery and mapped to key environmental variables known to constrain the species' distribution. Economic and environmental data are then matched with the species' observational records at the lake scale. Evidence from a spatial probit model shows a robust positive relationship between economic activity and invasion of uninvaded lakes.

Despite a large body of literature on the calculations of costs of air emissions from shipping, calculations of damages to the marine water are missing. This paper calculated the costs of NOx emissions from shipping entering an environmentally heterogeneous sea by applying the abatement cost approach. The total costs and unit shadow cost of NOx were then calculated by means of the marginal abatement cost for international agreements on targets of nitrogen loads to the sea. This conceptual model highlighted the need to distinguish between direct emissions of NOx on the sea and indirect emissions through deposition of emissions on land in the catchment with subsequent transportation into the sea. Calculated total cost amounted to 240 million euros, where indirect deposition accounted for 23% of the costs. The unit shadow costs ranged between 1.41 and 3.69 euros/kg NOx-N depending on location of the vessel.

Several studies have found empirical evidence for the role of social capital in environmental management where a high level of social capital reduces emissions of pollutants, and other studies point out a negative relation between income and environmental performance. Therefore, this paper examines if and how social capital explains Swedish county-level per capita CO2 emissions together with income in the period 2000–2017. A social capital composite index is constructed and different specifications of impacts on CO2 emissions of social capital and income and functional forms, linear and non-linear, are tested. The system generalized method of moments (GMM) is used to account for endogeneity in the presence of dynamic and spatial effects. Robust results are negative and significant effects of social capital on emissions, and positive effects of income. Other common results observed are significant dynamic and spatial carbon emissions effects.

Reducing emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) by reduction of fuel and food consumption and by implementation of negative emissions (such as forest carbon sequestration and carbon capture and storage) has been suggested in both scientific literature and practice, but there exist no calculations of the cost efficient combination of these measures. One challenge for calculations is the uncertainty in reductions of GHG, in particular for negative emissions, depending on e.g. stochastic weather conditions. This paper develops a static model with probabilistic emission constraints to calculate cost efficient emission reductions in the transportation (gasoline and diesel) and food (meat and dairy products) sectors combined with negative emission (carbon sequestration and carbon capture and storage technologies) creation in Sweden under uncertainty. The results show that emission reductions in fuel and food consumption are relatively expensive, and that carbon sequestration are relatively low cost measures. We also show that the regional effects at the county level are regressive, that is, that relatively poor counties will carry large cost burdens in the cost efficient solutions and that this effect is increased when negative emissions are included but decreased when uncertainty is considered.

Mussel farming has emerged as a relatively low-cost measure for reducing the content of nutrients in seas, but no systematic assessment has been undertaken of the costs involved. This study estimated the cost of producing mussels by means of a meta-regression analysis. The estimation of the cost function considered different types of mussel, environmental conditions and study characteristics. In total, 23 studies were found with a total of 69 observations. Different mixed-effect regression models were used and robust results were found of statistically significant output elasticities below one, i.e. production costs increase by less than 1% when the mussel quantity increases by 1%, and that the purpose of production, human consumption or nutrient removal, wage and interest rate and ecological conditions in terms of salinity level and temperature had significant effects on the costs. The estimated cost function was transferred to mussel farming for nutrient removal in different countries in the Baltic Sea, which indicated that the costs are relatively low for mussel farming in Russia (Kaliningrad).

An ecosystem-based management of a large sea can give heterogeneous nutrient load targets for different parts of the sea. Cost effective solutions to heterogeneous nutrient reductions targets based on ecological conditions are compared with the same overall nutrient reductions to the Baltic Sea. To this end, a numerical programming model is used, which includes eight different nutrient abatement measures (fertilizer and livestock reduction, cultivation of catch crops, reduced airborne nitrogen emissions, improved cleaning at sewage treatment plants, construction of wetlands and buffer strips, and mussel farming) in 21 catchments of the Baltic Sea. The results indicate that the cost for the international agreement on maximum load targets to different marine basins amounts to 5.3 billion euro. This is more than twice as large as the cost for the same total nutrient load targets to the Baltic Sea without specific targets for the marine basins. However, the resulting nutrient loads to the different marine basins deviate from the basin targets where the loads are lower for some basins but can exceed that for one basin, Baltic Proper, by approximately 22 per cent. Whether or not the ecological costs and benefits from deviations in basin targets under the Baltic Sea targets exceed the excess abatement cost of 2.9 billion euro for achieving the marine basin targets remains to be verified.

This study estimated the external cost of air pollution from shipping by means of a meta-regression analysis, which has not been made before. Three pollutants, which were included in most of the primary studies, were considered: nitrogen oxides (NOx), sulphur dioxides (SO2) and particulate matters with a diameter of max 2.5 micrometres (PM2.5). All primary studies included damages of health and a majority added impacts on agriculture and estimated the cost of air pollutants by transferring cost estimates from studies on costs of air emissions from transports in Europe. Different regression models and estimators were used and robust results were found of statistically significant emission elasticities of below one, i.e. total external costs increase by less than 1% when emissions increase by 1%. There was a small variation between the pollutants, with the highest elasticity for PM2.5 and lowest for NOx. Calculations of the marginal external cost of the pollutants showed the same pattern, with this cost being approximately six times higher for PM2.5 than for the other pollutants. Common to all pollutants was that the marginal external cost decreases when emission increases. Another robust result was a significant increase in the cost of studies published in journals compared with other publication outlets. These findings point out some caution when transferring constant external unit cost of air pollutant from shipping, which is much applied in the literature, and the cost functions estimated in this study could thus provide a complementary transfer mechanism.