1,721,270 research outputs found
Does a Third Bound Help? Parametric and Nonparametric Welfare Measure from a CV Interval Data Study
No full textAn analysis of discrete choice responses using multiple bound
Revealed and stated preference valuation and transfer: a within-sample comparison of water quality improvement values
No full textBenefit transfer (BT) methods are becoming increasingly important for environmental policy, but the empirical findings regarding transfer validity are mixed. A novel valuation survey was designed to obtain both stated preference (SP) and revealed preference (RP) data concerning river water quality values from a large sample of households. Both dichotomous choice and payment card contingent valuation (CV) and travel cost (TC) data were collected. Resulting valuations were directly compared and used for BT analyses using both unit value and function transfer approaches. WTP estimates are found to pass the convergence validity test. BT results show that the CV data produce lower transfer errors, below 20% for both unit value and function transfer, than TC data especially when using function transfer. Further, comparison of WTP estimates suggests that in all cases, differences between methods are larger than differences between study areas. Results show that when multiple studies are available, using welfare estimates from the same area but based on a different method consistently results in larger errors than transfers across space keeping the method constant. © 2014. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserve
Good Parks – Bad Parks: The Influence of Perceptions of Location on WTP and Preference Motives for Urban Parks
Full text linkUrban parks generate substantial public benefits yet explicit economic assessments of such
values remain relatively rare. Surveys of willingness to pay (WTP) were undertaken to assess
such values for proposed new parks. The analysis assessed how preference motives and
values varied according to the location of parks. Results revealed greater altruistic
motivation and higher overall values for the creation of inner city as opposed to suburban
parks. Spatial decomposition revealed that, after controlling for other determinants such as
incomes, values generally increase for households closer to proposed parks, but that a
significant downturn in values is evident for households located very close to a proposed
inner city park; a finding which echoes concerns regarding the potential for such sites to
provide a focus for antisocial behaviour. While these findings provide strong overall support
for provision of public parks they highlight the importance of perceptions of location and
the potential for localised dis-benefit
Efficiency gains afforded by improved bid design versus follow-up valuation questions in discrete choice CV studies
No full textInterval data analysis of CV discrete choice responses delivers efficiency gains which must be weighed against the risk of introducing strategic response bias. Efficiency gains are also achievable by improved bid design. We assess these gains on median WTP estimates first in an empirical application, then by means of a Monte Carlo experiment comparing three different bid designs. Improved, but sub-optimal, bid design delivers comparable gains to those achieved by one and two follow-up questions. The first follow-up captures more than 50% of the efficiency gain provided by a second follow-up
Using revealed preferences to estimate the Value of Travel Time to recreation sites
No full textOpen Access article funded by Economic and Social Research CouncilThe opportunity Value of Travel Time (VTT) is one of the most important elements of the total cost of recreation day-trips and arguably the most difficult to estimate. Most studies build upon the theoretical framework proposed by Becker (1965) by using a combination of revealed and stated preference data to estimate a value of time which is uniform in all activities and under all circumstances. This restriction is relaxed by DeSerpa's (1971) model which allows the value of saving time to be activity-specific. We present the first analysis which uses actual driving choices between open access and toll roads to estimate a VTT specific for recreation trips, thereby providing a value which conforms to both Becker's and DeSerpa's theoretical models. Using these findings we conduct a Monte Carlo simulation to identify generalizable results for subsequent valuation studies. Our results indicate that 3/4 of the wage rate provides a reasonable approximation of the average VTT for recreation trips, while the commonly implemented assumption of 1/3 of the wage rate generates downward biased results. © 2013 The Authors.European Commission under the Marie Curie International Outgoing Fellowship Programme (LUCES Project)Economic & Social Research Council (ESRC) - SEER Projec
The Axford Debate Revisited:A Case Study Illustrating Different Approaches to the Aggregation of Benefits Data
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River water quality: Who cares, how much and why?
Full text linkAn important motivation for the implementation of the Water Framework Directive is the creation of non-market environmental benefits, such as improved ecological quality, or greater opportunities for open-access river recreation via microbial pollution remediation. Pollution sources impacting on ecological or recreational water quality may be uncorrelated, but non-market benefits arising from riverine improvements are typically conflated within benefit valuation studies. Using stated preference choice experiments embedded within a survey that also collected respondents’ socio-economic characteristics, we aimed to disaggregate these sources of value for different river users, thereby allowing decision makers to understand the consequences of adopting alternative investment strategies. Our results suggested that anglers derived greater value from improvements to the ecological quality of river water, in contrast to swimmers and rowers, for whom greater value is gained from improvements to recreational quality. More generally, we found three distinct groups of respondents: a majority preferring ecological over recreational improvements, a substantial minority holding opposing preference orderings, and a yet smaller proportion expressing relatively low values for either form of river quality enhancement. As such, this research demonstrates that the non-market benefits that may accrue from different types of water quality improvements are nuanced in terms of their potential beneficiaries and, by inference, their overall value and policy implications
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