ABSTRACT
Many conceptual approaches have been used by economists to model mathematically when and how much pesticide application is economically optimal for controlling pest populations. The economic threshold generally is defined as the minimum pest population density at which control would be economically justified. The chapter presents the simplest possible model of a pest control decision and suggests that a general body of theory which is highly adaptable to the pest control problem. Inventory control theory is not a single mathematical method, but rather a group of methods used to describe and optimize decisions regarding inventory holding and ordering. The inventory problem normally involves minimizing the sum of two or more cost components per unit of time. A good introduction to inventory models is provided by H. A. Taha and many other operations research texts. Inventory models not only provide many techniques for economic threshold evaluation, but also constitute a viable theoretical framework for developing pest control models.
