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Abstract
One component of biosecurity is protection against invasive alien species, which are
one of the most important threats worldwide to native biodiversity and economic
profitability in various sectors, including agriculture. However, agricultural producers
are not homogeneous. They may have different objectives and priorities, use different
technologies, and occupy heterogeneous parcels of land. If the producers differ in
terms of their attitude towards invasive pests and the damages they cause, there are
probably external effects in the form of pest spread impacts and subsequent damages
caused. We study such impacts in the case of two producer types: profit-seeking
professional producers and utility-seeking hobby producers. We show that the hobby
producer, having first set a breeding ground for the pest, under-invests in pest control.
We also discuss potential policy instruments to correct this market failure and highlight
the importance of considering different stakeholders and their heterogeneous
incentives when designing policies to control invasive alien species.