The Economics of Soil Conservation Policies in Germany

The aim of this book was to analyze the economic and agricultural aspects of the implementation of soil conservation programmes and to suggest appropriate measures-instrument-combinations for efficient soil conservation as decision support for the implementation of soil conservation policies. Emphasis was given to the resource and institutional economics of soil conservation. The efficiency of policy options was analysed in a case study of a region in North-eastern Germany based on model calculations. The regional decision-support system MODAM (multi-objective decision support tool for agro-ecosystem management) was applied for the assessment of economic and environmental impacts of different policy options. The inclusion of transaction costs in this study helped to expand its scope of policy analysis.