@article{Cobourn:271508,
      recid = {271508},
      author = {Cobourn, Kelly and Goodhue, Rachael and Williams, Jeffrey  and Zalom, Frank},
      title = {Pests and Agricultural Commodity Losses: Evaluating  Alternative Approaches to Damage Function Estimation},
      address = {2008-07-27},
      number = {382-2018-2734},
      pages = {38},
      month = {Jul},
      year = {2008},
      abstract = {Estimating the economic impact of a pest requires linking  biological and economic systems via a damage function. The  most common damage function approach links exogenous pest  populations to cumulative commodity yield losses at  harvest. This type. of representation is a reduced form  because is not pest population levels per se that drive  damage, but the underlying factors that affect pest  populations and the susceptibility of the host. We specify  and estimate a structural damage function and compare the  results with those of the reduced form. We do so using two  alternative models, one that explains the level of crop  damage from a pest, and one that explains the timing of  that damage during the host's growing season. We address  our objectives within an empirical application to the olive  fruit fly in California. In formulating the structural  damage function, we draw from current scientific literature  on olive fly and olive fruit phenology. The structural  damage function takes into account the feedback between  climate, host susceptibility, and pest populations.  Moreover, the structural approach disaggregates damage  rates across space and time, unlike the typical reduced  form. The estimation results indicate that endogeneity is a  salient concern in both the timing of initial crop damage,  and in the levels of damage evidenced in some cultivars.  The structural damage function dominates the trapping-based  reduced form in terms of explanatory power in every model  estimated.},
      url = {http://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/271508},
      doi = {https://doi.org/10.22004/ag.econ.271508},
}