Discussion: Analytical Issues in Demand Analysis for Outdoor Recreation

Keywords

Outdoor recreation, Demand curves, Consumer economics, Agricultural economics, Income distribution, Marginal utility, Subsidies

Abstract

In the study of outdoor recreation, economists have seemingly divided themselves into two broad camps and have already begun to do battle. In the first group are those who believe that the price system should be used, directly or indirectly, in allocating resources to outdoor recreation. This group does not unanimously favor the imposition of use fees but does be- lieve that at least surrogate prices should be estimated to guide resource commitments to recreation. The second group argues that, for various reasons, economics has very little to contribute in this area. Recreation prices should be zero and the resource allocation decisions should be set- tled by political means. It seems to me that Stoevener and Brown clearly belong in the first group. Their paper is primarily an attempt to answer some of the more serious objections of the "detractors" of economics, and, on the whole, I believe they have been successful. I applaud their effort. Failure to use large doses of economics in allocating resources to outdoor recreation, as well as to many other public goods, is a blind alley with no end, one where it becomes impossible to detect bad management and gross inefficiency.

Original Publication Citation

Analytical Issues in Demand Analysis for Outdoor Recreation, Journal of Farm Economics, 49(5):125-129, December 1967.

Document Type

Peer-Reviewed Article

Publication Date

1967-12

Permanent URL

http://hdl.lib.byu.edu/1877/5098

Publisher

Journal of Farm Economics

Language

English

College

Family, Home, and Social Sciences

Department

Economics

University Standing at Time of Publication

Full Professor

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