The economic impacts of vertebrate pests in Australia

The estimates of the welfare losses in agriculture are estimated against a no-pest baseline. They are therefore the potential total gains if there were no pests. They cannot be used to determine exactly what should be done or how much should be invested because these decisions need estimates of potential net gains. However, they can be used for the prior (equally important) steps in decision making, namely: raising general awareness, drawing attention to specific issues, demonstrating the size of the problem, defining broad problem areas and formulating broad policies.