The Social Cost of Keystone Species Collapse: Evidence From the Decline of Vultures in India
This seminar is part of: Oxford Environmental Economics Seminar Series
Scientific evidence documents an ongoing mass extinction of species, caused by human activity. Allocating conservation resources is difficult due to scarce evidence on the damages from losing specific species. This paper studies the collapse of vultures in India, triggered by the expiry of a patent on a painkiller. Our results suggest the functional extinction of vultures – efficient scavengers who removed carcasses from the environment – increased human mortality by over 4% because of a large negative shock to sanitation. These effects are comparable to estimates of heat deaths from climate change. We quantify damages at $69.4 billion per-year.
Date: 16 October 2023, 16:00 (Monday, 2nd week, Michaelmas 2023)
Venue: Manor Road Building, Manor Road OX1 3UQ
Venue Details: Skills Lab or https://zoom.us/j/92415955348?pwd=ME5ybjVBVk90aThHdkcwVnZiUWF4Zz09
Speaker: Anant Sudarshan (University of Warwick)
Organising department: Department of Economics
Organiser contact email address: emma.heritage@economics.ox.ac.uk
Part of: CSAE Special Seminars
Booking required?: Not required
Audience: Members of the University only
Editor: Suzanne George