IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/jageco/v50y1999i2p203-219.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Irreversible Investment Under Uncertainty: Conservation Easements and the Option to Develop Agricultural Land

Author

Listed:
  • Abebayehu Tegene
  • Keith Wiebe
  • Betsey Kuhn

Abstract

A landowner's decision to convert farmland to urban use is presented as an irreversible investment under uncertainty. This approach improves on conventional approaches to the valuation of conservation easements by incorporating option values. This approach also refines the calculation of compensation potentially due to landowners when use of their land is restricted by government policies to protect the environment.

Suggested Citation

  • Abebayehu Tegene & Keith Wiebe & Betsey Kuhn, 1999. "Irreversible Investment Under Uncertainty: Conservation Easements and the Option to Develop Agricultural Land," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(2), pages 203-219, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jageco:v:50:y:1999:i:2:p:203-219
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1477-9552.1999.tb00808.x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1477-9552.1999.tb00808.x
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/j.1477-9552.1999.tb00808.x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Phipps, Tim, 1983. "Landowner Incentives to Participate in a Purchase of Development Rights Program with Application To Maryland," Journal of the Northeastern Agricultural Economics Council, Northeastern Agricultural and Resource Economics Association, vol. 12(01), pages 1-5.
    2. Capozza, Dennis & Li, Yuming, 1994. "The Intensity and Timing of Investment: The Case of Land," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 84(4), pages 889-904, September.
    3. Capozza Dennis R. & Sick Gordon A., 1994. "The Risk Structure of Land Markets," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 35(3), pages 297-319, May.
    4. Robert McDonald & Daniel Siegel, 1986. "The Value of Waiting to Invest," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 101(4), pages 707-727.
    5. Capozza, Dennis R. & Helsley, Robert W., 1990. "The stochastic city," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(2), pages 187-203, September.
    6. Buist, Henry & Fischer, Carolyn & Michos, John & Tegene, Abebayehu, 1995. "Purchase of Development Rights and the Economics of Easements," Agricultural Economic Reports 308424, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    7. Black, Fischer & Scholes, Myron S, 1973. "The Pricing of Options and Corporate Liabilities," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 81(3), pages 637-654, May-June.
    8. Wiebe, Keith & Tegene, Abebayehu & Kuhn, Betsey, "undated". "Partial Interests in Land: Policy Tools for Resource Use and Conservation," Agricultural Economic Reports 262040, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    9. Pindyck, Robert S, 1991. "Irreversibility, Uncertainty, and Investment," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 29(3), pages 1110-1148, September.
    10. R. H. Coase, 2013. "The Problem of Social Cost," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 56(4), pages 837-877.
    11. Slangen, L H G, 1992. "Policies for Nature and Landscape Conservation in Dutch Agriculture: An Evaluation of Objectives, Means, Effects and Programme Costs," European Review of Agricultural Economics, Oxford University Press and the European Agricultural and Applied Economics Publications Foundation, vol. 19(3), pages 331-350.
    12. Phipps, Tim, 1983. "Landowner Incentives to Participate in a Purchase of Development Rights Program with Application To Maryland," Northeastern Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Northeastern Agricultural and Resource Economics Association, vol. 0(Number 1), pages 1-5.
    13. Fisher, Anthony C & Hanemann, W Michael, 1990. "Option Value: Theory and Measurement," European Review of Agricultural Economics, Oxford University Press and the European Agricultural and Applied Economics Publications Foundation, vol. 17(2), pages 167-180.
    14. Avinash Dixit, 1992. "Investment and Hysteresis," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 6(1), pages 107-132, Winter.
    15. Hanemann, W. Michael, 1989. "Information and the concept of option value," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 16(1), pages 23-37, January.
    16. Kenneth J. Arrow & Anthony C. Fisher, 1974. "Environmental Preservation, Uncertainty, and Irreversibility," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 88(2), pages 312-319.
    17. Henry, Claude, 1974. "Investment Decisions Under Uncertainty: The "Irreversibility Effect."," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 64(6), pages 1006-1012, December.
    18. R. Glenn Hubbard, 1994. "Investment under Uncertainty: Keeping One's Options Open," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 32(4), pages 1816-1831, December.
    19. Tegene, Abebayehu & Kuchler, Frederick R, 1993. "Evidence on the Existence of Speculative Bubbles in Farmland Prices," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 6(3), pages 223-236, May.
    20. Capozza, Dennis R. & Helsley, Robert W., 1989. "The fundamentals of land prices and urban growth," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(3), pages 295-306, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Lim, Terence & Lo, Andrew W. & Merton, Robert C. & Scholes, Myron S., 2006. "The Derivatives Sourcebook," Foundations and Trends(R) in Finance, now publishers, vol. 1(5–6), pages 365-572, April.
    2. Catherine Chambers & Paul Chambers & John Whitehead, 1997. "Historical resources, uncertainty and preservation values: An application of option and optimal stopping models," Journal of Economics and Finance, Springer;Academy of Economics and Finance, vol. 21(2), pages 51-61, June.
    3. Batabyal, Amitrajeet A., 1998. "Land development and preservation over time and under uncertainty: a review and a research agenda," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(3), pages 233-238, June.
    4. Turvey, Calum G., 2002. "Can Hysteresis And Real Options Explain The Farmland Valuation Puzzle?," Working Papers 34131, University of Guelph, Department of Food, Agricultural and Resource Economics.
    5. Coggins, Jay S. & Ramezani, Cyrus A., 1998. "An Arbitrage-Free Approach to Quasi-Option Value," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 35(2), pages 103-125, March.
    6. Fisher, Anthony C., 2000. "Investment under uncertainty and option value in environmental economics," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(3), pages 197-204, July.
    7. Batabyal, Amitrajeet A. & Yoo, Seung Jick, 2004. "Indivisibility And Divisibility In Land Development Decisions Over Time And Under Uncertainty," 2004 Annual meeting, August 1-4, Denver, CO 20278, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    8. Chu, Yongqiang & Sing, Tien Foo, 2021. "Intensity and Timing Options in Real Estate Developments," International Real Estate Review, Global Social Science Institute, vol. 24(1), pages 1-17.
    9. Krüger, Niclas A. & Svensson, Mikael, 2009. "The impact of real options on willingness to pay for mortality risk reductions," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(3), pages 563-569, May.
    10. Baranzini, Andrea & Chesney, Marc & Morisset, Jacques, 2003. "The impact of possible climate catastrophes on global warming policy," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 31(8), pages 691-701, June.
    11. Lander, Diane M. & Pinches, George E., 1998. "Challenges to the Practical Implementation of Modeling and Valuing Real Options," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 38(3, Part 2), pages 537-567.
    12. Guthrie, Graeme, 2010. "House prices, development costs, and the value of waiting," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(1), pages 56-71, July.
    13. Luis H.R. Alvarez & Jukka Lempa & Elias Oikarinen, 2009. "Do Standard Real Option Models Overestimate the Required Rate of Return of Real Estate Investment Opportunities?," Discussion Papers 52, Aboa Centre for Economics.
    14. Lungarska, Anna & Jayet, Pierre-Alain, 2014. "Geographical Labeling of Agri-Food Products and its Incidence on the Cross-Sectional Approach to Climate Change Impacts Assessment," 2014 International Congress, August 26-29, 2014, Ljubljana, Slovenia 182746, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    15. Mensink, Paul & Requate, Till, 2005. "The Dixit-Pindyck and the Arrow-Fisher-Hanemann-Henry option values are not equivalent: a note on Fisher (2000)," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(1), pages 83-88, January.
    16. Cunningham, Christopher R., 2006. "House price uncertainty, timing of development, and vacant land prices: Evidence for real options in Seattle," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 59(1), pages 1-31, January.
    17. Blanca Zuluaga, 2018. "Early childbearing and the option to postpone," Revista Cuadernos de Economia, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, FCE, CID, vol. 37(73).
    18. Jackie Krafft & Isabelle Nicolaï, 1995. "Commitment Procedures In R&D Investments : An Examination Of Different Varieties," Post-Print hal-01799270, HAL.
    19. Attanasi, Giuseppe Marco & Montesano, Aldo, 2010. "Testing Value vs Waiting Value in Environmental Decisions under Uncertainty," TSE Working Papers 10-154, Toulouse School of Economics (TSE).
    20. van den Bergh, Jeroen C.J.M., 2008. "Optimal diversity: Increasing returns versus recombinant innovation," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 68(3-4), pages 565-580, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:jageco:v:50:y:1999:i:2:p:203-219. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0021-857X .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.