The Economics of Private Forest Management

The majority of forest land in the U.S. is owned by individuals and institutions that are not directly involved in the forest products industry. Much of this land is thought to be managed inefficiently, but the reasons for this are unclear. This article focusses on three possible factors: information and transactions costs; nonfinancial forest values; and liquidity constraints. Models for the reforestation and harvesting decisions are presented that incorporate these factors. These models use the Faustmann model to define the financial value of forest land, and borrow from previously developed models of nonindustrial private forest management to incorporate the other factors into the forest management decision. A wealth of data exists on nonindustrial private forest management, and discussion focusses in particular on models that are suitable for the study of existing data