The Emerald Ash Borer (EAB), Agrilus plaipennis (Coleoptera: Buprestidae) was introduced to North America more than two decades ago and has spread despite management efforts in both the United States and Canada. The insect kills most species of ash tree (Fraxinus sp.) and its management imposes costs to plant health protection agencies, forest industry, private landowners and municipalities. The United States Department of Agriculture – Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (USDA-APHIS) has deemed existing regulation efforts in the United States to be ineffective and has removed federal regulations designed to limit the spread of EAB. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) is also trying to determine if continued regulation of EAB in Canada is worthwhile. Here we show that the benefits of slowing the spread of EAB via regulation are likely greater than the costs of implementing regulation if it is minimally effective (i.e. more than 25% effective at preventing anthropogenic spread). To evaluate the economic efficiency of existing Canadian EAB regulations, we examined trade-offs between the monetary benefits of regulation and the costs of regulation. Specifically, we simulated the spread of EAB under various levels of regulation effectiveness and estimated the timing of EAB arrival and associated ash mortality in urban and rural settings. Delaying ash mortality via regulation also delays management costs, a benefit to ash tree owners/users. Our findings suggest that an economic justification to continue regulating the insect exists based on monetary costs alone. The net present value of regulation (benefits less costs) is estimated to range between $23 million to $240 million, depending on the level of regulation effectiveness. Additional environmental and social benefits not addressed here would likely increase the value of EAB regulation but appear unneeded to justify such efforts on allocative efficiency grounds.

Emerald Ash Borer (EAB), Agrilus plaipennis（鞘翅目：Buprestidae）在二十多年前被引入北美，尽管在美国和加拿大进行了管理努力，但它仍然传播开来。这种昆虫会杀死大多数白蜡树（Fraxinus sp.）。) 及其管理给植物健康保护机构、林业、私人土地所有者和市政当局带来了成本。美国农业部 - 动植物卫生检验局 (USDA-APHIS) 认为美国现有的监管措施无效，并取消了旨在限制 EAB 传播的联邦法规。加拿大食品检验局 (CFIA) 也在试图确定加拿大继续对 EAB 进行监管是否值得。在这里，我们表明，通过监管减缓 EAB 传播的好处可能大于实施监管的成本，如果它是最低限度的（即在防止人为传播方面的有效性超过 25%）。评估现有加拿大 EAB 法规的经济效率，我们研究了监管的货币收益和监管成本之间的权衡。具体来说，我们模拟了 EAB 在各种监管有效性水平下的传播，并估计了 EAB 到达时间和城市和农村环境中相关的灰烬死亡率。通过监管延迟灰烬死亡也会延迟管理成本，这对白蜡树所有者/用户来说是一个好处。我们的研究结果表明，仅基于货币成本就存在继续监管昆虫的经济理由。监管的净现值（收益减去成本）估计在 2300 万至 2.4 亿美元之间，具体取决于监管有效性的水平。