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The eight papers in this special section were initially presented at the 1999 international symposium entitled "150 Years of the Faustmann Formula: The Consequences for Forestry and Economics in the Past, Present, and Future."1 For this symposium, forest economists from five continents met in one of Martin Faustmann's hometowns, Darmstadt, Germany, to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the publication of Faustmann's 1849 seminal paper, Berechnung des Wertes welchen Waldboden Bowie noch nicht haubare Holzbestande fur die Waldwirschaft besitzen (Calculation of the Value which Forest Land and Immature Stands Possess for Forestry).
Martin Faustmann, born in Giessen in 1822, was a 19th century German forester. He studied at Giessen University and in Darmstadt. Faustmann published four scholarly papers between 1849 and 1854. He managed forestland in Hessen and Babenhausen between 1848 and his death in 1876. 2
The Faustmann Symposium3 was a large and geographically diverse international gathering of forest economists. There were over 50 presentations and over 70 attendees. In addition to presentations and receptions, field trip participants observed a plantation planted under Faustmann's supervision (as many of the field trip participants noted, the plantation was considerably older than the optimal age suggested by the Faustmann Formula) and one of the castles in which he had offices. For more detailed descriptions of the symposium, see Chang (2001) and Lofgren (2000).
Faustmann's 1849 paper has had a tremendous impact on the development of the optimal rotation problem and current forest economics. Intended as a method to value forestland, it has become best known for providing a benchmark model for determining optimal timber rotation age. Faustmann correctly noted that the marginal costs of delaying harvests include not only foregone interest payments, but also the value lost from delaying the next rotation. This...