Gospodarka leśna w badaniach ekonomiki leśnictwa

Forestry has attracted the interest of economists for more than three hundred years. Some of the great contributors for economic doctrine, notably German theorists, developed their concept with the reference to forestry. Forests are economic resources because they are valuable in producing other final goods and services. Traditionally, forest economics has been concerned with the management of forests for production of wood for industrial manufacture into building materials, pulp and paper and other products. However, forests also yield other goods and services and are often managed to produce recreation, wildlife and water supplies. Such benefits are often produced in combination with industrial timber. Some of these values, especially biodiversity, recreational and environmental benefits, have become increasingly important in recent years. These increasing and overlapping demands on forest resources complicate the problem of allocating them among alternative uses and combinations of uses. Moreover, while there is usually a market price to indicate the economic value of industrial timber, some other benefits such as outdoor recreation and aesthetic and biodiversity values are not priced. The absence of price indicators only complicates the problems of economic analysis. These are issues discussed in detail in this paper.