The Social Costs of Keystone Species Collapse: Evidence from the Decline of Vultures in India

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Frank, Eyal; Sudarshan, Anant
• 署名单位: University of Chicago; Center for Economic & Policy Research (CEPR); National Bureau of Economic Research; University of Warwick; Centre for Economic Policy Research - UK
• 刊物名称: AMERICAN ECONOMIC REVIEW
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0002-8282
• DOI: 10.1257/aer.20230016
• 发表日期: 2024
• 页码: 3007-3040
• 关键词: climate-change; air-pollution; environmental-regulations; infant-mortality; health evidence; IMPACT; water; biodiversity; CONSEQUENCES; temperature

摘要

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.