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Abstract
The aim of this paper is to compare different policy instruments for cost-effective habitat
conservation on agricultural lands, when the desired spatial pattern of reserves is a random
mosaic. We use a spatially explicit mathematical programming model which studies the
farmers' behavior as profit maximizers under technical and administrative constraints. Facing
different policy measures, each farmer chooses its land-use at the field level, which determines
the landscape at the regional level. A spatial pattern index (Ripley L function) is then
associated to the obtained landscape, indicating on the degree of dispersion of the reserve.
We compare a subsidy per hectare of reserve with an auction scheme and an agglomeration
malus. We find that the auction is superior to the uniform subsidy both for cost-efficiency
and for the spatial pattern of the reserve. The agglomeration malus does better than the
auction for the spatial pattern but is more costly.