Wildfire is a natural phenomenon with substantial economic consequences, and its management is complex, dynamic, and rife with incentive problems. This article reviews the contribution of economics to our understanding of wildfire and highlights remaining knowledge gaps. We first summarize economic impacts to illustrate scale and trends. We then focus on wildfire management in three phases: mitigation before fires occur, response during fires, and response after fires. The literature highlights economic interdependencies and spillover effects across fire-prone landscapes as the source of economic inefficiencies and motivation for public institutional response. The literature illustrates the complexity of this problem with its myriad threads, including the trade-offs of living in fire-prone environments, the prospects for using controlled fire and mechanical fuel removal for reducing wildfire severity, the decision-making environment that firefighters face, and the economic consequences of wildfire smoke on health. Economics provides valuable insights, but fundamental questions remain unanswered.

中文翻译：

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美国野火的经济学


野火是一种自然现象，具有重大的经济后果，其管理复杂、动态且充满激励问题。本文回顾了经济学对我们理解野火的贡献，并强调了仍然存在的知识差距。我们首先总结经济影响以说明规模和趋势。然后，我们将野火管理分为三个阶段：火灾发生前的缓解、火灾期间的响应以及火灾后的响应。文献强调了易发生火灾地区的经济相互依赖性和溢出效应，这是经济效率低下的根源和公共机构应对措施的动力。文献通过无数线索说明了这个问题的复杂性，包括生活在易发生火灾的环境中的权衡、使用受控火灾和机械燃料清除来降低野火严重程度的前景、消防员面临的决策环境、以及野火烟雾对健康的经济影响。经济学提供了宝贵的见解，但基本问题仍未得到解答。