You Can't Drag Them Away: An Economic Analysis of the Wild Horse and Burro Program

Since 1971 wild horses and burros living on federal land have been legally protected, limiting removal from the range and stipulating restrictive conditions for transfer to private ownership. Periodic gathers prevent overpopulation, though we find both political and biological influences on the prob...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of Agricultural and Resource Economics Vol. 41; no. 1; pp. 1 - 24
Main Authors Elizondo, Vanessa, Fitzgerald, Timothy, Rucker, Randal R
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Logan Western Agricultural Economics Association 2016
Edition1835
Subjects
Accountability
Agricultural prices
Animals
asses
Economic analysis
Fees
Horses
issues and policy
Land Economics/Use
Land use planning
Lawsuits
Livestock
Livestock Production/Industries
Lobbying
natural resources policy
politics
private ownership
probability
Public lands
Resource economics
Variable coefficients
Wild animals
wild horses and burros
United States
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Summary:Since 1971 wild horses and burros living on federal land have been legally protected, limiting removal from the range and stipulating restrictive conditions for transfer to private ownership. Periodic gathers prevent overpopulation, though we find both political and biological influences on the probability and size of gathers. Attempts to convey removed horses to private owners are often unsuccessful because of the relatively low quality of some animals and ontractual restrictions. We consider alternative policy regimes promoting the transfer of additional animals; such reforms could have reduced program costs by as much as $452 million over the past twenty-five years.
Bibliography:http://www.waeaonline.org/UserFiles/file/JAREJanuary20161Elizondopp1-24.pdf
ISSN:1068-5502
2327-8285
DOI:10.22004/ag.econ.230764