Grantee Research Project Results
2003 Progress Report: Socioeconomic and Institutional Research
EPA Grant Number: R828684C004Subproject: this is subproject number 004 , established and managed by the Center Director under grant R828684
(EPA does not fund or establish subprojects; EPA awards and manages the overall grant for this center).
Center: Center for Integrated Multi‐scale Nutrient Pollution Solutions
Center Director: Shortle, James S.
Title: Socioeconomic and Institutional Research
Investigators: Shortle, James S. , Fisher, Ann , O'Connor, Robert E. , McElfish, James M. , Finley, James
Current Investigators: Shortle, James S. , Thornton, Kent
Institution: Pennsylvania State University
Current Institution: Pennsylvania State University , FTN Associates, Ltd
EPA Project Officer: Packard, Benjamin H
Project Period: March 1, 2001 through February 28, 2005 (Extended to March 15, 2006)
Project Period Covered by this Report: March 1, 2002 through February 28, 2003
RFA: Environmental Indicators in the Estuarine Environment Research Program (2000) RFA Text | Recipients Lists
Research Category: Aquatic Ecosystems , Ecological Indicators/Assessment/Restoration , Water
Objective:
The overall objective of this research project is to provide scientific results that support the choice and communication of suites of environmental indicators that will be meaningful to and relevant for environmental managers and other intended audiences. The specific objectives of this research project are to examine: (1) human perceptual and attitudinal dimensions of the types of indicators that different audiences find useful; (2) risk communication methods for presenting indicator information; (3) institutional and jurisdictional obstacles to indicator use; (4) their value for environmental management; and (5) their relationships to socioeconomic indicators at multiple scales. This is one of the four subprojects under the Atlantic Slope Consortium (ASC) Center.
Progress Summary:
The data collection and data analysis activities of the Human Dimensions group addressed four themes during the 2003 reporting period.
Theme I: Integration of Economic and Environmental Information for Environmental DecisionMaking
The objectives of research under this theme are to:
- Develop and demonstrate decision frameworks for managing aquatic resources that integrate environmental and socioeconomic information.
- Develop policy results related to socioeconomic and environmental information.
- Provide theoretical constructs to guide the use of socioeconomic and environmental information in integrated assessment.
- Develop and demonstrate methodologies for integrated assessment of quality of life.
Progress was made on each of these objectives. Our most notable contribution was in the development of methodologies for the integrated assessment of quality of life. Specifically, we developed two innovative approaches for ranking the relative efficiency of communities in the region in producing a high quality of life and environment. One is based on data envelopment analysis and uses minimal value judgments. The second imposes stronger value judgments derived from observed human residential (i.e., human habitat) choices. We used secondary data for proof-of-concept and currently are moving toward an application to communities in ASC watersheds.
We also: (1) produced frameworks for combining economic and environmental data water quality policy analysis in the specific context of designing pollution trading programs for point and nonpoint sources of water pollution and managing invasive species that threaten aquatic resources; (2) developed theory to guide the interpretation of economic and environmental data for sustainability analysis; and (3) explored the use of stochastic frontier analysis for assessing the efficiency of land use change.
Theme II: Value of Socioeconomic and Environmental Information in Environmental DecisionMaking
In this theme, we are exploring methods and results to estimate the societal value of various types of economic and environmental information for water quality management and methods for data collection. We developed methods and results on the value of information for managing nitrogen loads in the Susquehanna River Basin of Pennsylvania and continue to refine the methods and apply them to ASC watersheds.
Theme III: Human Dimensions of Environmental Indicators
Theme III addresses a set of hypotheses concerning the use of indicators in community-based watershed management. Issues include:
- The relationship between perceived environmental quality and “actual” environmental quality (as revealed via the indicator approach) and perceived versus actual stressors (as revealed by ASC indicators).
- The role of potential mediating variables or sets of variables in the relationships above. Mediating variables include: (1) social choice scenarios; (2) which indicators we choose to represent environmental quality and their nature; and (3) personal characteristics such as environmental attitudes.
- Ranking and willingness to make tradeoffs between attributes of aquatic ecosystems as measured by indicators (as a measure of value).
- The effectiveness of different types of indicators in communicating water quality conditions and risks.
These issues are being addressed through a set of general population surveys in ASC watersheds. The survey instrument now is being developed. We expect the survey to be completed by mid-summer 2004.
Theme IV: Institutional Issues in the Choice and Use of Water Quality Indicators
The role of federal and state laws and institutions in shaping the choice and use of indicators is the fourth theme. This theme is being addressed collaboratively with the Environmental Law Institute (ELI) as well as with other ASC researchers. Data collected by the ELI in Year 2 of the project are being used to prepare a paper in collaboration with Lyle Varnell (Virginia Institute of Marine Science) on institutional and legal obstacles to effective integration of ecological indicators into decisionmaking (McElfish and Varnell, in preparation, 2004).
Future Activities:
A set of general population surveys is being conducted in ASC watersheds on the following issues:
- The relationship between perceived environmental quality and “actual” environmental quality (as revealed via the indicator approach) and perceived versus actual stressors (as revealed by ASC indicators).
- The role of potential mediating variables or sets of variables in the relationships above. Mediating variables include: (1) social choice scenarios; (2) which indicators we choose to represent environmental quality and their nature; and (3) personal characteristics such as environmental attitudes.
- Ranking and willingness to make tradeoffs between attributes of aquatic ecosystems as measured by indicators (as a measure of value).
- The effectiveness of different types of indicators in communicating water quality conditions and risks.
The survey instrument now is being developed and should be completed by mid-summer 2004.
Journal Articles on this Report : 4 Displayed | Download in RIS Format
| Other subproject views: | All 40 publications | 8 publications in selected types | All 6 journal articles |
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| Other center views: | All 166 publications | 51 publications in selected types | All 44 journal articles |
| Type | Citation | ||
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Borisova T, Shortle JS, Horan RD, Abler DG. The value of information for water quality protection. Water Resources Research 2005;41(6):W06004. |
R828684C004 (2003) R828684C004 (2004) R828684C004 (Final) |
Exit |
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Horan RD, Shortle JS, Abler DG. The coordination and design of point-nonpoint trading programs and agri-environmental policies. Agricultural and Resource Economics Review 2004;33(1):61-78. |
R828684 (Final) R828684C004 (2003) |
Exit Exit |
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Horan RD, Shortle JS. When two wrongs make a right: second-best point-nonpoint trading ratios. American Journal of Agricultural Economics 2005;87(2):340-352. |
R828684 (Final) R828684C004 (2003) |
Exit |
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Ranjan R, Marshall L, Shortle J. Optimal renewable resource management in the presence of endogenous risk of invasion. Environmental and Resource Economics 2008;89(4):273-283. |
R828684C004 (2003) |
Exit |
Supplemental Keywords:
integrated assessment, aquatic ecosystem, wetland, stream, estuary, biological integrity, landscape ecology, scaling, health effects, ecological effect, risk assessment, socioeconomic, decisionmaking, remote sensing, Mid-Atlantic, Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program, EMAP, aquatic biota, aquatic ecosystem, indicators, bioindicator, biomonitoring, coastal ecosystem, contaminated sediment, degradation, ecological assessment, ecological exposure, ecosystem assessment, ecosystem indicators, ecosystem stress, environmental stress, estuarine ecosystems, integrated assessment, integrative indicators, land use, nutrient stress, remote sensing,, RFA, Scientific Discipline, Ecosystem Protection/Environmental Exposure & Risk, ECOSYSTEMS, ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT, Economic, Social, & Behavioral Science Research Program, Economics & Decision Making, Ecological Indicators, Ecological Risk Assessment, Ecosystem Protection, Economics, Ecosystem/Assessment/Indicators, decision-making, Ecological Monitoring, Social Science, Ecological Effects - Environmental Exposure & Risk, Ecology and Ecosystems, Risk Assessment, economic objectives, public values, socioeconomics, ecological assessment, ecosystem valuation, policy making, ecoindicator, economic models, environmental decision making, ecosystem management, environmental decision-making, cost-effective ecosysem protection, environmental values, economic incentives, valuation, estuarine ecosystems, cost of pollution abatement, decision making, environmental policy, environmental protection, environmental risk assessment, model-based analysis, preference surveyRelevant Websites:
Progress and Final Reports:
Original AbstractMain Center Abstract and Reports:
R828684 Center for Integrated Multi‐scale Nutrient Pollution Solutions Subprojects under this Center: (EPA does not fund or establish subprojects; EPA awards and manages the overall grant for this center).
R828684C001 Integrated Assessment of Estuarine Ecosystems
R828684C002 Development of an Optical Indicator of Habitat Suitability for Submersed Aquatic Vegetation
R828684C003 Integrated Assessment of Watersheds
R828684C004 Socioeconomic and Institutional Research
The perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.
Project Research Results
6 journal articles for this subproject
Main Center: R828684
166 publications for this center
44 journal articles for this center