Understanding the Externality of Wildlife Health: A Case of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) in Hunting Lease Values

The spread of chronic wasting disease (CWD) has threatened the future of the hunting economy in North America. A discrete choice experiment survey of deer hunters showed a progressively higher premium for sites with lower CWD rates, revealing the trade-off between the disease prevalence and other site attributes. While this study focuses on the case of CWD in white-tailed deer, the findings help explain how the externality from declining game health affects hunters’ welfare and how it reflects in lease values.