The annotated bibliography in Leitch et a1 . is distinct from the extensive 

 (129 citations) literature cited section appended to the main text of the paper. 

 The annotated bibliography has six reference sections, including general wetlands 

 literature, bibliographies, conference and symposia proceedings, wetland 

 economics, recreational and wildlife literature, and natural resources 

 literature. There are brief discussions of selected references in all of the 

 various sections. There are 93 references in the wetlands economics literature; 

 there is little or no attempt to avoid overlap in the references in this 

 annotated bibliography and the 1977 annotated bibliography (reference [18]) by 

 Leitch and Scott, The discussions are too terse to convey more than the subject 

 matter of the references. 



The main text of the paper deals primarily with the economics of wetlands 

 allocations, though there is some discussion of the problem of estimating the 

 sociological (perhaps community is a better term) values of wetlands preserva- 

 tion. There is a useful discussion of the problem of achieving the socially 

 optimal allocation of wetlands resources. The principal difficulties in 

 achieving this social optimum stem from market failure; the wetlands preservation 

 benefits are not priced or provided in any market, while the private returns to 

 private investment in drainage and filling of wetlands are often substantial. 



The authors assume that the reader is well-acquainted with the economics 

 underlying this policy issue. Leitch and Scott emphasize somewhat technical 

 issues, such as the best methods for measuring the totality of market benefits 

 of wetland drainage and the nonmarket wetlands preservation benefits. The most 

 original contribution is an interesting discussion of the role of an input-output 

 model in identifying and measuring regional impacts of wetland allocations. 



50. Leitch, J. A., and D. Kerestes. 1981. Agricultural land drainage costs 

 and returns in Minnesota. Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics 

 Staff Paper No. P81-15, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis. 58 pp. 



Most of the economic substance and policy implications of the research 

 reported in this paper was reported in a paper by Leitch ([48]). However, the 

 paper by Leitch and Kerestes reports significant details of the research that 

 are omitted in the other work. The authors studied the costs of drainage and 

 the net returns of drainage for two regions in Minnesota. These are south- 

 central Minnesota, and west-central Minnesota. Numerous differences in the 

 historical drainage pattern exist between the two regions; and much of the value 

 of the paper stems from the listing of these and other significant details. For 

 example, 2.3% of the area in the west-central region is enrolled in wetland 

 preservation programs, but only 0.3% of the area in the south-central region 

 is enrolled in wetland preservation programs. Very roughly, about 20%-60% of 

 the cropland in the west-central region has been drained; about 60% of the land 

 in the south-central region has been drained. 



One important stimulus to the research reported in the paper is the paucity 

 of data on drainage costs. Goldstein (1967; An economic analysis of the wetlands 

 problem in Minnesota; Ph.D. Thesis, University of Minnesota) estimated the cost 

 of tile drainage to be $157 per acre, and $50 per acre for ditch drainage (1963 

 dollars) for two Minnesota regions. These estimates were based on 1967 data. 



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