1,217 research outputs found
Distribution of willingness-to-pay for speed reduction with non-positive bidders: Is choice modelling consistent with contingent valuation?
No full textThe paper addresses the issue of consistency between two commonly employed stated preference data—referendum contingent valuation (CV) and discrete choice modelling (CM)—with respect to estimated distributions of individual willingness-to-pay (WTP) for non-market goods. The policy context is that of a local externality: effective speed reduction by means of traffic-calming in towns crossed by fast roads. In particular, data from two independent samples of the same population are contrasted. The findings show that both methods indicate that speed reduction via traffic-calming is valued in a polarized fashion. Results from both methods are consistent with the presence of two groups of preferences: a larger group holding positive values and a smaller one with non-positive values. While the estimates of the relative proportions of the two groups are similar across the two data sources, once the econometric analysis of the CM responses allows for polarized preferences the estimates of the distribution of individual WTP differ substantially. The results from the choice modelling survey indicate that residents are also willing to pay for other benefits from traffic-calming, such as noise reduction and a decreased waiting time for crossing, but preferences for these are also polarized, with WTP for aesthetic improvements being positive only for those supporting effective speed control. In comparing distributions of value estimates from CM and CV, surveys practitioners should account for the effects of taste heterogeneity over externalities and take advantage of the ability to derive individual-specific WTP estimates from panel estimation rather than simply deriving estimates for common features of the WTP distribution
Comparing Individual-Specific Benefit Estimates for Public Goods: Finite Versus Continuous Mixing in Logit Models
No full textMulti-attribute stated preference data, derived through choice experiments, is used to investigate the consequence of a finite number of preference groups in a sample of Yorkshire Water residential customers on the conditional distributions of willingness to pay in the sample. The research focuses on public good' values, and retrieves the implicit customer specific welfare measures conditional on a sequence of four observed choices. We assess and contrast the sample evidence for the presence of a finite number of 2, 3, 4 and 5 latent preference groups (classes), and contrast these with the presence of a continuous distribution of parameter estimates using mixed logit models. The main focus is the conditional valuations in the form of marginal values for the consequence of waste water handling and treatment, namely: river water quality, area flooding by sewage, presence of odour and flies, and other water related amenities
Estimating WTP for Speed Reduction from Dichotomous-Choice CV Responses with Follow-up: The Case of Rural Trunk Roads
No full textWe present an empirical estimation of the distribution of WTP for effective speed restriction via implementation of local traffic calming schemes. Random samples are drawn from the populations of households of three centres intersected by main trunk roads with varying through traffic conditions. We retrieve the underlying WTP distributions from discrete-choice responses to site-specific referendum contingent valuation studies accounting for zero-bidders. We then test the hypothesis of different distributions across villages. The statistical analysis is first conducted by means of a parametric specification and then by a totally non-parametric one. Stated welfare changes for effective speed reduction are found to be sizeable and the parameters of the random utility models are plausibly related to differences in objective speed measures across centres. The results appear to encourage the use of the referendum-CV method in the estimation of local public goods
Valuing local public goods with advanced stated preference models: Traffic calming schemes in Northern England
No full textThe paper reports the results of three stated preference surveys in urban-rural areas in Northern England. The objective is that of valuing the economic benefits from traffic calming schemes in two areas with different traffic problems from stated preference observations. Both choice-experiments and contingent valuation methods are employed using advanced modelling. Fixed and random coefficient utility models are estimated from responses of the choice-experiments, while double-bound spike models are used for contingent valuation. Welfare estimates from the different methods are compared. The role of accounting for repeated choices is found to be of relevance. Choice modelling is designed to disentangle the values of benefits from 5 major attributes of traffic calming schemes (noise abatement, speed control, community severance, aesthetic layout and tax burden)
Assessing water company customer preferences and willingness to pay for service improvements: A stated choice analysis
No full textWater and sewerage companies are regional monopolies in the UK. A government agency regulates these companies, setting standards on quality of service to customers, and every 5 years sets prices that companies can charge customers over the ensuing quinquennium. We use a stated choice experiment model to estimate benefits to water company customers of changes across 14 water service factors. The estimated values were quite similar for each service factor across models (conditional logit (CL), CL quadratic, nested logit (NL), or NL quadratic). Estimates of the cost of infrastructure maintenance and improvement with risk of asset failure, along with CL benefit estimates, permit economic optimization across the water company's whole investment program
Know your city. 1948-02-28
No full textIn this installment of "Know your city," Dr. Willis Dunbar profiles an exhibit of medical appliances sold by "quack" doctors currently being featured at the Kalamazoo Valley Museum. Dunbar discusses many of the objects on display with Alexis Praus, the museum's curator, and Dr. Kenneth L. Crawford, a Kalamazoo physician
Modelling zero bids in contingent valuation surveys
No full textWhen modelling data generated from a discrete choice contingent valuation question, the treatment of zero bids affects the welfare estimates. Zero bids may come from respondents who are not interested in the provision of the public good; alternatively, some zero-bidders may be protesting about the valuation exercise, but hold positive values for the good. In this paper we investigate the effect of different levels of information on zero-bidders on welfare estimates for the population. We find that different strategies of identification may have non-trivial effects. We recommend use of full debriefing questions for zero-bidders, and use of sample selection models to correct for bias caused by protest behaviou
Modelling zero values and protest responses in contingent valuation surveys
No full textIn contingent valuation surveys the category of zero bidders refers to individuals that are not willing to pay anything for the programme under analysis. Specific questions can help to identify true zero values, coming from people that are indifferent to the programme, separately from protest responses: the latter are generally excluded from the analysis. This paper introduces a mixture-sample selection model that takes into account both zero values and protest responses in the estimates. The model is applied to the valuation of a traffic calming scheme aimed at reducing risks for residents in three villages in the north-east of England.
Willingness-to-pay for renewable energy: Primary and discretionary choice of British households’ for micro-generation technologies
No full textThis paper documents the policy context of renewable energy production in the European Union. The research adopts a choice experiment approach to investigate households' WTP for these renewable energy technologies in the UK. The micro-generation technologies comprise solar photovoltaic, micro-wind, solar thermal, heat pumps, and biomass boilers and pellet stoves. The study compares the results from conditional and mixed logit models, which estimate the distribution of utility coefficients and then derives WTP values as a ratio of the attribute coefficient to the price coefficient, with a model in which the WTP distribution is estimated directly from utility in the money space. The results suggest that whilst renewable energy adoption is significantly valued by households, this value is not sufficiently large, for the vast majority of households, to cover the higher capital costs of micro-generation energy technologies
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