ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on one objective of public interventions: continuing investment for higher levels of sustained production of timber and other multiple use values of the forest. It provides background on policy and funding alternatives for stimulating a higher level of investment--and thus a higher level of productivity--on both private and public forest land. The chapter considers the impacts of public policy rather than to consider whether the present pattern of intervention is justified. If the objective of public policy is to achieve efficiency in resource use, the same rules of behavior apply to managers of public forest land. A key consideration in any policy aimed at providing incentives for investment in forestry involves the attitudes, perspectives, and psychology of the investors. There are several excellent reviews and analyses of the rationale for the effects of public policy on private forest investment decisions.
