PREEMPTIVE HABITAT DESTRUCTION AND THE ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT: THE CASE OF THE RED-COCKADED WOODPECKER

An economic model illustrating a southern forest landowner's incentive to increase timber harvest in response to the risk of red-cockaded woodpecker colonization and subsequent regulation under the Endangered Species Act is developed. The empirical results show that industrial landownders respond to these incentives, whereas non-industrial private forest landowners do not