Economic Values of Ecosystem Service: Evidence from Bees
Release time：28 October 2025
Oct
31
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Time & Date
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10:30 am
-
12:00 pm,
October
31,
2025
(Friday)
|
|
Venue
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Room 904, Teaching Complex D Building
|
| TOPIC | Economic Values of Ecosystem Service: Evidence from Bees |
| TIME&DATE | 10:30 am-12:00 pm, October 31, 2025 (Friday) |
| Venue | Room 904, Teaching Complex D Building |
| Speaker |
Yuanning Liang Peking University |
| Abstract | Ecosystem services are essential to agricultural productivity, yet their economic value remains difficult to measure. This paper quantifies the value of pollination services provided by managed honey bees in U.S. agriculture. Using state-by-quarter bee colony census from 2015–2024 and county-level measures of crop reliance on pollination, we estimate how changes in bee abundance affect farm income. To address endogeneity, we exploit variation from interstate bee migration, using predicted inflows of colonies affected by ecological shocks—such as forage losses or adverse weather—in source states. The results show that a one–standard-deviation increase in bee colonies increases county farm income by 1.1 standard deviations, implying an aggregate annual value of roughly $15 billion. |
| Biography | Yuanning Liang is an Assistant Professor of Economics at the School of Economics at Peking University. Her areas of specialization include environmental economics, transportation economics, urban economics, and biodiversity. She received her Ph.D. from the Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management at Cornell University. Her work has been published in Journal of Public Economics, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), Journal of Urban Economics, and China Economic Journal. Yuanning has also been awarded a grant from the National Natural Science Foundation of China. |
