American Economic Review
ISSN 0002-8282 (Print) | ISSN 1944-7981 (Online)
The Social Costs of Keystone Species Collapse: Evidence from the Decline of Vultures in India
American Economic Review
vol. 114,
no. 10, October 2024
(pp. 3007–40)
Abstract
Scientific evidence has documented we are undergoing a mass extinction of species, caused by human activity. However, allocating conservation resources is difficult due to scarce evidence on damages from losing individual 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 that removed carcasses from the environment—increased human mortality by over 4 percent because of a large negative shock to sanitation. We quantify damages at $69.4 billion per year. These results suggest high returns to conserving keystone species such as vultures.Citation
Frank, Eyal, and Anant Sudarshan. 2024. "The Social Costs of Keystone Species Collapse: Evidence from the Decline of Vultures in India." American Economic Review, 114 (10): 3007–40. DOI: 10.1257/aer.20230016Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- I12 Health Behavior
- O13 Economic Development: Agriculture; Natural Resources; Energy; Environment; Other Primary Products
- O15 Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration
- Q53 Air Pollution; Water Pollution; Noise; Hazardous Waste; Solid Waste; Recycling
- Q57 Ecological Economics: Ecosystem Services; Biodiversity Conservation; Bioeconomics; Industrial Ecology
- Q58 Environmental Economics: Government Policy