Outdoor Recreation Economics

• Published date: 01 May 1970
• Author: John V. Krutilla,Jack L. Knetsch
• DOI: 10.1177/000271627038900108
• Date: 01 May 1970
• Subject Matter: Articles

63

Outdoor

Recreation

Economics

By

JOHN

V.

KRUTILLA

and

JACK

L.

KNETSCH

John

V.

Krutilla,

Ph.D.,

Washington,

D.C.,

is

Director,

Wildlands,

Wildlife

and

Scenic

Resources

Studies,

Resources

for

the

Future,

Inc.

He

has

been

a

visiting

professor

at

several

universities,

a

consultant

to

the

Outdoor

Recreation

Resources

Review

Com-

mission,

and

a

member

of

the

National

Academy

of

Sciences

summer

study-team

on

research

in

outdoor

recreation.

He

has

also

written

numerous

books

and

articles

in

the

field

of

resource,

conservation,

and

welfare

economics.

Jack

L.

Knetsch,

Ph.D.,

Washington,

D.C.,

is

Director,

Natural

Resources

Policy

Center,

and

Professor

of

Economics,

George

Washington

University.

He

is

coauthor

of

Economics

of

Outdoor

Recreation

(1966)

and

author

of

numerous

journal

articles

on

outdoor

recreation

and

natural-resources

economics.

ABSTRACT:

Outdoor

recreation

economics

is

an

area

similar

to

numerous

other

study

areas

in

the

general

field

of

eco-

nomics.

Economists

working

in

this

area

are

concerned

with

the

efficiency

of

the

allocation

of

resources

between

outdoor

recreation

facilities

and

programs,

on

the

one

hand,

and

goods

and

services,

generally,

on

the

other—and,

within

the

area

of

outdoor

recreation,

with

the

efficiency

of

the

resultant

mix

of

facilities

and programs.

Concomitantly,

they

become

in-

volved

with

the

question

of

"distributive

justice,"

namely,

the

distribution

of

recreational

opportunities

among

the

vari-

ous

segments

of

the

population.

In

this

paper,

we

distinguish

roughly

between

resource-oriented

outdoor

recreation,

on

the

one

hand,

and

population-

or

market-oriented

outdoor

recrea-

tion

on

the

other.

In

the

former,

we

find

a

predominantly

middle-

or

upper-middle-income

clientele

and

an

economic

en-

vironment

which

favors

application

of

the

analytical,

manage-

ment,

and

policy

tools

of

"efficiency

economics."

In

the

latter,

we

find

concentrations

of

the

impoverished

among

ghetto

residents,

and

the

question

of

equitable

distribution

of

recrea-

tional

facilities

and

programs

becomes

equally

as

important

as

the

efficiency

with

which

they

are

provided.