Economic analysis in support of broad scale land management strategies

The US has a century of experience with the development of forest policies that have benefited from or been influenced by economic research activities in the forest sector. At the same time, increasing rigor in policy debates stimulated economics research. During the past four decades economic research has evolved to include increased understanding of consumer demands, producer behavior, landowner behavior and timber resource conditions. Bio-economic models have evolved that combine economic and resource models; these have been used in the US to provide the basis for forecasting future resource and market trends and to shape public perceptions. Economics research has also contributed frameworks for policy analysis using approaches like scenario planning to help decision-makers gauge uncertainty.