Project
Assessment of Direct and Secondary Economic Impacts of Not Meeting Lake Erie Phosphorous Targets
Client
Environment and Climate Change Canada
Objective
The objective of our report was to expand on the 2015 report on the economic costs of HNABs in the Lake Erie basin economy by including indirect and induced economic impacts along with the direct impacts associated with the costs measured in the original study. Costs in the original study were considered under two scenarios: 1) "business-as-usual", in which nothing is done to limit phosphorous loading and the lake's condition steadily worsens; and 2) "policy intervention", in which phosphorous loadings to the lake are reduced through government action and HNAB events on the lake decrease in severity and frequency. The principle findings of our report were presented in terms of the total (direct, indirect, and induced) economic impacts in each of the regions that make up the basin economy as shown by GDP and person years of employment lost under each of the two scenarios. The findings of our report can be placed in the broader contexts of the Ontario and national economies.
Our Role
Midsummer Analytics presented a report to Environment and Climate Change Canada outlining the economic costs of not meeting targets for reducing phosphorous loading in Lake Erie. Measuring these impacts was undertaken using a model developed for regional economic impact analysis by Econometric Research Ltd. In 2015, Midsummer Analytics, in collaboration with EnviroEconomics Inc., carried out the original study on the economic costs of HNABs in terms of the loss of Lake Erie's ecological goods and services that this study is an extension of.
