Wildfire Policy: Law and Economics Perspectives

Front Cover
Dean Lueck, Karen M. Bradshaw
Routledge, Jun 17, 2013 - Business & Economics - 224 pages

During the five decades since its origin, law and economics has provided an influential framework for addressing a wide array of areas of law ranging from judicial behaviour to contracts. This book will reflects the first-ever forum for law and economics scholars to apply the analysis and methodologies of their field to the subject of wildfire. The only modern legal work on wildfire, the book brings together leading scholars to consider questions such as: How can public policy address the effects of climate change on wildfire, and wildfire on climate change? Are the environmental and fiscal costs of ex ante prevention measures justified? What are the appropriate levels of prevention and suppression responsibility borne by private, state, and federal actors? Can tort liability provide a solution for realigning the grossly distorted incentives that currently exist for private landowners and government firefighters? Do the existing incentives in wildfire institutions provide incentives for efficient private and collective action and how might they be improved?

 

Contents

Introduction
1
A Conceptual Historical and Economic Analysis
3
2 Property and Fire
32
Liability and the Economics of Wildfire Risk
50
4 Economics and the Organization of Wildfire Suppression
71
5 Norms of Fire Suppression among Public and Private Landowners
89
Saving Forests Saving Houses or Burning Money
110
Missteps in Air Quality Regulation of Wildfire Smoke
127
8 Private and Public Provision of Firefighting Services in Rural Australia
142
An Empirical Analysis
158
Homeowner Behavior and Wildland Fire Policy
178
Index
200
Copyright

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About the author (2013)

Karen M. Bradshaw is a judicial clerk for the Honorable E. Grady Jolly of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Dean Lueck is a professor of Agricultural and Resource Economics at the University of Arizona. Prior to his academic career, he was a smokejumper with the USDA Forest Service in McCall, Idaho.