SLU news

Sören Wibe Prize 2016 award ceremony for best article, January 19th

Published: 17 January 2017

Sören Wibe, Professor of Forest Economics, Swedish MP and later a member of the EU Parliament, founded in 1994 the Journal of Forest Economics. The journal, which is the leading scientific journal in the field, is based at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences and the Center for Environmental and Resource Economics in Umeå. The Sören Wibe prize was instituted in 2011 in memory of Sören Wibe for the best article in the journal the last two years. The prize, awarded every second year, is awarded to the article in the Journal of Forest Economics which are considered to contribute the most in terms of empirical knowledge or methodology within the subject of forest economics. The winning article is selected by an independent international committee of three internationally renowned researchers in forest economics.

The award 2016 goes to the article "Faustman and the Climate" by Michael Hoel, University of Oslo, and Bjart and Katinka Holtsmark, Statistics Norway in Oslo. The motivation from the committee is that the article covers a wide range of issues related to forest growth, carbon storage and emissions. This article analyzes the impact of these factors on the optimal forest rotation, i.e. when it is best to harvest and renew a forest. The authors claim that the rotation age lengthens with increasing social costs of carbon, but the amount of timber used for building material shortens the rotation age. According to the motivation the presented framework provides a good starting point for empirical work on alternative policy scenarios, both in terms of forest policy climate policy.

The prize ceremony and prize lecture takes place Thursday, January 19 at 13:00 in Björken at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences in Umeå.  

For more information, contact Runar Brännlund, 090 - 786 62 70, runar.brannlund@umu.se


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