More work

Still deep in paper writing. I just finalized the page proofs for an an article (of which I am principal author) for an Edward Elgar book (in press). In that paper (see my Home Page to view a copy), I computed the economic welfare impact of a 5% decline in small pelagic fisheries in three Asian countries (Philippines, Thailand, India). Pelagic fish are fish that dwell in the upper part of a sea, ocean, or water body (in contrast to bottom-dwellers called demersal fish). This is what a lot of small-scale fishers catch. What did I find? Well I used supply-demand analysis to show that the welfare impact reverberates throughout the various fish sectors; the Philippines, which has the largest small pelagic sector, has the largest intersectoral effects. What does this show? That comprehensive picture of welfare impact requires analysis of the full range of economic effects. This is a kind of economics version of the so-called "ecosystem approach" to fisheries management, which requires managers to consider all types of ecological interactions (such as predator-prey relationships) when managing the fisheries.