Abstract
We examine the economic impacts of land use shifts from agricultural to forestry production in the Mississippi Delta at both landowner and regional economy levels. The economic impacts that we consider include net revenues to farmers who convert Delta soybean lands to forest, and the changes employment, income, value added, industry output, and taxes that we expect to occur across a three state regional economy. We develop a framework that links these landowner and regional impacts in order to compare economic impacts of land use changes at landowner and regional levels, and to investigate the self-financing potential of subsidies. Results at the landowner level indicate that conversion may provide positive returns on better soils for some tree species. Results at the regional economy level indicate that the impacts would be generally negative, although landowner subsidies are computed that could equalize the regional impacts of forestry and soybean production. Further, for limited combinations of tree species and soil type, landowner subsidies could be self-financing, providing tax revenues that could offset government outlays. Our results imply that if subsidies were adopted, they should target species and site conditions. For. Sci. 45(3):381-393.