Abstract
An econometric analysis was conducted to assess how tract, policy, and administrative factors of public timber sales influence willingness to pay for stumpage. To do so, we obtained an electronic database containing multiple years of MN DNR timber-sale records. Each record contained information on the timber sale's total appraised volume, species-product composition, tract acres, date of sale, date of sale expiration, method of sale, purchasing firm, and tract location. A total of 4,395 records of MN DNR timber tracts sold from 2001 to 2006 were analyzed. By incorporating physical, ecological, policy, and administrative factors of a timber sale, our model was able to explain approximately 63% of the variation in the natural log of stumpage prices. Sale-specific characteristics found to be significant drivers of stumpage prices are species-product composition, tract location, end-product market conditions, season of sale, harvestable volume density, length of the sale contract, seasonal operating restrictions, total appraised volume, and auction method.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 71-80 |
| Number of pages | 10 |
| Journal | Forest Policy and Economics |
| Volume | 21 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Aug 2012 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:This research was funded by the MN Forest Resources Council , MN Department of Employment and Economic Development , University of Minnesota's Departments of Forest Resources and Applied Economics , and University of Minnesota Extension .
Keywords
- Econometrics
- Hedonic price analysis
- Public timber sales
- Willingness to pay for stumpage