In this review of the major contributions in the last 25 years to the economics of decision-
making at farm level with regard to pest management, the authors focus on 4 models: the
economic threshold model, the marginal analysis (optimisation) model, the decision theory
model and the behavioural design model. The development of each of these models is
discussed in terms of the assumptions and information required and their relevance to
different decision-making situations.

Following widespread concerns about the adverse effects of pesticide use including
pesticide resistance, pest resurgence, secondary pest outbreaks, effects on non-target
organisms (natural enemies), and pesticide pollution since the early 60 s, it became clear
that spraying by calendar was not the appropriate approach to pest control. The fundamental
questions addressed were: how many insects cause how much damage, and are the
damage levels all significant? Experts from a number of agricultural disciplines came to …