ECONOMIC RENTS UNDER SUPPLY CONTROLS WITH MARKETABLE QUOTA

We analyze the distribution of economic rent between owners and renters of marketable production quotas and examine how this distribution changes with increases in marginal costs. While quota owners unambiguously lose because of a marginal cost increase, quota renters may gain, depending on whether the marginal cost shift is divergent, parallel, or convergent. Using output and input prices, county production quotas, and quota rental rate data, we estimate a marginal cost function for North Carolina flue-cured tobacco to demonstrate how wage increases affect owners' and renters' welfare.