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Article
Identification of resource extraction technologies when the resource stock is unobservable
Economics Working Papers
  • Helle Bunzel, Iowa State University
  • Larry Perruso, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
  • Quinn Weninger, Iowa State University
Publication Date
5-21-2021
Number
18015
Abstract

This paper consistently estimates key structural properties of a multiple-species fishing technology. We overcome two ubiquitous features of fisheries data generating processes that invalidate classical estimation of fishing technologies: unobservability by the researcher but partial observability of the fish stock by fishermen and endogenous production decisions that vary with fishermen’s private knowledge of true stock abundance. Our identification strategy exploits timing and available information when production decision are made, technological constraints, and natural, exogenous variability of fish stock abundance. Consistency in estimation obtains under reasonable assumptions for fisheries data generating processes. An application to the U.S. Gulf of Mexico commercial reef fish fishery is presented to demonstrate our approach and reveal substantial bias under estimators that ignore the problem of omitted stock abundance. Implications for improved fisheries management are discussed.

Version History

Original Release Date: December 20, 2018

Revisions: February 2, 2019; February 27, 2019; November 11, 2019

Latest Revision: May 21, 2021

Departments
Department of Economics, Iowa State University
File Format
application/pdf
Length
49 pages
Citation Information
Helle Bunzel, Larry Perruso and Quinn Weninger. "Identification of resource extraction technologies when the resource stock is unobservable" (2021)
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/quinn-weninger/36/