A Bug Is a Bug Is a Bug: Symbolic Responses to Contingent Valuation Questions about Forest Pest control programs?

Symbolic responses are one of many issues attending contingent valuation studies. The problem is that many objects that are the subject of contingent valuation surveys can act as symbols for larger issues. In this paper, we want to compare the attitudes of residents of five communities with two different forest pests, jack pine budworm and gypsy moth. Jack pine budworm affects commercially important forests in Canada, while gypsy moth generally affects recreational areas and has less commercial significance. All of the respondents were asked about both insects; however, not all of the communities had direct experience with both insects. The purpose is to examine whether respondents would differentiate their willingness to pay for control mechanisms between these different defoliators. The implication is that all bugs are alike and generally noxious, a notion that would not necessarily sit well with resource managers who have to deal with insect outbreaks. Respondents did not differentiate strongly between insect control programs that would impact their community and those that would not. While not conclusive, the results do suggest symbolic responses to this particular issue. This is further evidence that willingness-to-pay results from contingent valuation studies need to be cautiously interpreted as pseudo market values.     

Editorial - Value of nature conservation: the good or the context?

The idea of the contingent valuation method for measuring the value of non-marketed goods, proposed by Ciriacy-Wantrup in 1947, found its first application in a study by Davis (1963) at the beginning of 1960's on valuing recreational benefits of forests. Since then, contingent valuation and related methods like choice experiments have become a standard part of forest economists' toolkits. During their history, the pros and the cons of methods of valuing non-marketed benefits of nature have been intensively discussed in the literature. One of the questions, considered also in earlier editorials of this Journal, is what are we actually measuring.Reallocating land from timber production to nature conservation has been a prominent trend in northern Europe and North America during recent decades. On many occasions, this has caused public debates, the spotted owl controversy in western United States being a well known example. In Finland, the implementation of the European Union's nature conservation programme, Natura 2000 Network, at the end of 1990's resulted in a heated public controversy.Public debate and the arguments presented went out of all proportion as compared to the actual proposal. In the Natura 2000 Network proposal, only 5 % of the conserved area were newly protected sites, and newly protected forestland area was 0.15 % of the productive forest land area in Finland. Still, it was claimed that the programme would severely restrict forestry, endanger the profitability of forest industries and violate private forest owners' property rights. The Ministry of Environment received over 14.000 written complaints from private landowners concerning the conservation areas proposed.After the conflict, social scientists have tried to find out what actually went wrong. The most important reason seems to have been the fact that the environmental administration neglected land owners by leaving them completely out of the process of policy planning and designing the areas to be conserved. A contingent valuation survey on Finnish households' willingness to pay for increased conservation in the form of the Natura 2000 Network (Pouta et al. 2002), indicated that the planning process itself had a significant negative effect on Finnish households' welfare. Those respondents who were offered a nature conservation programme similar to Natura 2000 Network, but without the Natura label were willing to pay five times more for the increase than those who received the conservation project within the Natura 2000 Network. According to a choice experiment survey (Li et al. 2001), the proposal would have actually lost a majority vote in Finland.Preliminary results of a survey conducted in year 2002 on increasing biodiversity conservation in forests in Southern Finland indicate much more positive attitudes towards nature conservation (Lehtonen et al. 2002) than the survey on Natura 2000 Network just a few years earlier. One reason for this may be that preferences have changed. Partly, the results may reflect the fact that the later survey is very explicit on the effects of the programme on biodiversity, which seem to matter more than the hectares conserved. However, one reason may also be that this time the planning has not got the bad publicity of Natura 2000 Network, at least not yet.Since Fischhoff and Furby (1988), researchers have been aware of the fact that the context is an important determinant of willingness to pay for public goods. However, at least in Finland, this does not seem to have been common knowledge to environmental groups or policy planners. On the other hand, maybe it is exactly these kinds of features of non-market valuation techniques that cause environmental groups and even many academic natural scientists and ecologists to view the methods and mindset of economists with grave suspicion. Non-market valuation methods seem somehow to dilute the value of nature, which should be preserved whatever the costs.However, disregarding the effects of policy planning, or the perceived property rights of the landowners, is not going to make conservation policies more effective. In fact, if conservation controversies decrease citizens' utility given the proposed level of conservation, they decrease willingness to pay, and make it more difficult to justify conservation measures. Other things being equal, as customers we are more likely to enter a shop with good, reliable service, and a friendly smile can save the day, even if we decide not to make the purchase that time. This is how the human mind works: why should it be any different in the market for environmental goods and services?ReferencesCiriacy-Wantrup SV (1947) Capital returns from soil-conservation practices. Journal of Farm Economics 29: 1181-1196.Davis RK (1963) The value of outdoor recreation: an economic study of the Maine woods Ph. D. thesis, Harvard University. Fischhoff B, and Furby L (1988) Measuring values: a conceptual framework for interpreting transactions with special reference to contingent valuation of visibility. Journal of Risk and Uncertainty 1: 147-184.Lehtonen E, Kuuluvainen J, Pouta E, Rekola M, and Li C-Z (2002) Stated preferences of the forest conservation in southern Finland. Scandinavian Forest Economics (forthcoming)Pouta E, Rekola M, Kuuluvainen J, Li C-Z, and Tahvonen O (2001) Willingness to pay in different policy-planning methods: Insights into respondents' decision-making processes. Ecological Economics 40: 295-311.Li C-Z, Kuuluvainen J, Pouta E, Rekola M, Tahvonen O (2001) Using choice experiments to value Natura 2000 nature conservation program in Finland. Helsingin yliopisto - University of Helsinki Metsäekonomian laitos - Department of Forest Economics Tutkimusraportteja - Reports 18.     

Preference Uncertainty in Non-Market Valuation: A Fuzzy Approach

In this article, we consider uncertain preferences for non-market goods, but we move away from a probabilistic representation of uncertainty and propose the use of fuzzy contingent valuation. We assume that a decision maker never fully knows her own utility function and we treat utility as a fuzzy number. The methodology is illustrated using data on forest valuation in Sweden. Fuzzy contingent valuation provides estimates of resource value in the form of a fuzzy number and includes estimates obtained using a standard probabilistic approach.     

Willingness-to-sell conservation easements: A case study

A contingent valuation survey of forest landowners in Southern Vermont and Western Massachusetts suggests that it would cost about $700 per acre to entice about one-half of Massachusetts and 33% of Vermont respondents to permanently conserve their forestland. Policies that promote early development of management plans and cooperation with neighbors are recommended because these activities appear to increase the likelihood that landowners will convey conservation easements. Education and a strong environmental ethic also improve the chances that respondents would sell conservation easements. A prediction-based contingent valuation format designed to reduce incentives for strategic behavior suggests that our results likely represent a lower bound estimate of landowner response to a large-scale conservation easement program.     

Assessing forest management strategies using a contingent valuation approach and advanced visualisation techniques: A Portuguese case study

The assessment of alternative forest management strategies should account not only for the private benefits to forest landowners but also for the ecological, environmental and economic benefits valued by society. There are a number of empirical valuation methods that may contribute to that assessment. These methods involve several steps: data acquisition, model specification and estimation. In this paper, this approach is illustrated in the context of a survey regarding alternative management strategies for a forest area in Central Portugal by implementing a contingent valuation experiment where an advanced landscape visualisation technique is employed to generate the visual information conveyed in the valuation scenarios. Several econometric model specifications are considered as well as alternative approaches to handle zero willingness to pay values and protest responses. The results obtained suggest the potential of the proposed approach for an effective comparison of alternative forest management strategies.     

Attitudes,willingness to pay,and stated values for recreation use fees at an urban proximate forest

Studies have combined contingent valuation and attitude theory in models directly predicting willingness to pay recreation fees. Little research, however, has modeled predictions of attitudes toward fees on both the intention to pay (WTP) and stated payment amount ($WTP) simultaneously. This article addresses that knowledge gap using onsite survey data from 1068 recreationists at the McDonald-Dunn forest in Oregon. Attitudes toward paying an annual fee at this forest were directly associated with WTP and were among the strongest predictors of WTP. Respondents with supportive attitudes toward paying the annual fee were more willing to pay than those who were opposed. The strength of attitudes also influenced WTP, with those respondents having stronger opposition being least likely to pay. Attitudes toward paying a fee were indirectly (i.e., mediation) related to the stated payment amount ($WTP), suggesting that payment is influenced by intention to pay (WTP), and this intention is partially a function of attitudes about fees.     

Contingent Valuation Versus Choice Experiments: Estimating the Benefits of Environmentally Sensitive Areas in Scotland

This paper reports results from a study of the economic value of the conservation benefits of Environmentally Sensitive Areas (ESAs) in Scotland. The main novelty of the approach taken is in comparing two direct valuation methods, namely contingent valuation and choice experiments, to value these benefits. The Contingent Valuation Method (CVM) is well-established as a technique for valuing the sorts of landscape and wildlife enhancements associated with ESAs. The CVM experiment reported here uses a dichotomous choice format, and includes a new correction for part-whole bias. Choice experiments are much less used as an environmental valuation technique. We note several advantages of such experiments over CVM, and then report characteristic values and ‘programme values’ estimated using the method. This application brings to light some problems in applying the choice experiment method. Finally, we discuss the issue of benefits transfer in the context of these two approaches to valuation.     

The citizen versus consumer hypothesis: Evidence from a contingent valuation survey

This paper examines the criticism of contingent valuation put forth by Blamey, Common and Quiggin ( Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics , 1995, vol. 39, pp. 264–288). They argue that households have consistent preferences over private goods but not jointly consistent preferences over public and private goods and, hence, contingent valuation cannot uncover meaningful responses for the valuation of public goods. In this paper we argue that the motives that are manifested in choices for public goods can be explained in two ways. One is the model of the citizen, proposed by Blamey et al . (1995). The second is a model of neoclassical preferences with altruism. Given these alternative and competing explanations of choices for public goods, what matters is whether they imply differences in willingness to pay for public goods. We provide statistical evidence from a contingent valuation study of the control of deer in the USA that there is no difference in willingness to pay between those who profess 'citizen' or altruistic preferences and the rest of the presumably purely private respondents.     

Forest owners’ willingness to accept compensation for voluntary conservation: A contingent valuation approach

To avoid conflicts often associated with mandatory regulations, it is crucial to motivate and incentivize forest owners to participate in voluntary conservation programs. To investigate forest owner preferences and willingness to accept compensation (WTA) to participate, we conduct a contingent valuation survey of non-industrial private forest owners in Norway. We find that WTA is negatively related to the size of the forest holding and absentee ownership, and positively related to the share of the forest classified as productive. The overall mean WTA per year per hectare is estimated at NOK 1800. Costs of reaching conservation goals can be saved by targeting small and relatively less productive forests and absentee owners first, before considering increasingly expensive forest areas. However, this recommendation only holds if desirable biological characteristics are not substantially less likely to be found in such areas. Results are potentially important both for our understanding of forest owner preferences and the costs of voluntary forest conservation schemes currently in use in many countries.     

Consumer Attitudes toward GM Food and Pesticide Residues in India

Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) vegetables will likely be commercialized in India soon. The technology could reduce pesticide residues in foods. Yet it is unclear whether consumers will appreciate this health advantage, or whether potential GM crop risks will dominate their attitudes. Using contingent valuation methods and a sample of urban households, we find that almost 60% of consumers would purchase Bt vegetables at current conventional vegetable prices, indicating a high acceptance level. The rest would purchase at a certain price discount. Strikingly, the required discount increases for people particularly concerned about pesticide residues, demonstrating that risk-averse consumers do not easily offset technology benefits against perceived risks.     

A portfolio analysis of incentive programmes for conservation,restoration and timber plantations in Southern Ecuador

This paper uses portfolio analysis to study how the Ecuadorian incentive programme for forest conservation and restoration (Socio Bosque), and an incentive programme for timber plantations, may reduce income risk and/or maximise returns for a given level of risk for farmers in the municipality of Loja. The main existing land use in the research area is milk production on pasture, with some farmers having forest land. Our results suggest that most farmers would significantly increase the area under conservation and/or restoration as part of their risk reduction strategies, compared to a decision based solely on expected returns. However, in land use allocations that maximise the return per unit of risk, a small group of milk producers without forest would continue milk production on most of their land. In addition, milk producers with forest would significantly decrease deforestation under the land use allocations made when conservation incentives are available. Against this we also identify a likely shift of milk production from existing pasture to new pasture established on deforested land, which provides evidence of a potential ‘leakage effect’. In addition, the incentive programmes would only lead to small areas of tree plantations being established. None of the land use combinations (portfolios) analysed would increase the income of all households to above the poverty line, as the monetary incentives are too low and many farms are too small. For forest holders all the land use combinations we studied would have a positive impact on income, but we observed a negative impact on household income for milk producers without forest. For producers without any forest, there seems to be a trade-off between maximising household income and risk reduction through combining incentives for restoration and tree plantations.     

Costs and benefits of forest conservation: regional and local comparisons in Eastern Finland

In addition to environmental interests vs. timber production, debates on forest conservation have typically dealt with nationwide vs. local and regional interests. While most previous studies have focused on the nationwide perspective, this paper considers the benefits and costs of existing conservation areas from the regional and local point of view. The non-market benefits of conservation are measured by means of contingent valuation. Unlike most discrete-choice CV studies, we allow for zero willingness to pay. The results of our cost-benefit analysis suggest that the aggregate benefits of conservation clearly exceed the total opportunity costs when viewed from a regional (or nationwide) perspective, but at the local level costs exceed the benefits of conservation. Differences were also found in locally vs. regionally relevant benefits and costs.     

岷江上游森林生态系统服务条件价值评估

针对岷江上游森林生态系统服务现状,采用条件价值评估法(CVM),以支付卡形式设计了374份调查问卷,调查了岷江流域居民对上游森林生态系统服务的支付意愿(WTP)。结果表明:岷江流域60.80%的居民家庭对岷江上游森林生态系统服务存在支付意愿,平均支付意愿为每户每年44.00元。按照岷江流域现有家庭数量计算,岷江上游森林生态系统服务价值每年是5 507.48×104元。利用二元Logistic模型,对支付意愿与个人社会经济变量进行了较为详尽的分析,并对影响居民支付意愿的主要因素作了环境经济学解释。     

Valuation on the Frontier: Calibrating Actual and Hypothetical Statements of Value

The lack of robust evidence showing that hypothetical behavior directly maps into real actions remains a major concern for proponents of stated preference nonmarket valuation techniques. This article explores a new statistical approach to link actual and hypothetical statements. Using willingness-to-pay field data on individual bids from sealed-bid auctions for a $350 baseball card, our results are quite promising. Estimating a stochastic frontier regression model that makes use of data that any contingent valuation survey would obtain, we derive a bid function that is not statistically different from the bid function obtained from subjects in an actual auction. If other data can be calibrated similarly, this method holds significant promise since an appropriate calibration scheme, ex ante or ex post , can be invaluable to the policy maker that desires more accurate estimates of use and nonuse values for nonmarket goods and services.     

Consumer Valuation of Food Quality and Food Safety Attributes in Vietnam

Food systems in developing countries are currently undergoing a profound transformation toward high-value products. Appropriate policies are needed to guide this transformation, presupposing good understanding of consumer preferences. We analyze consumers' valuation of different vegetable attributes in metropolitan areas of Vietnam, using contingent valuation techniques and a mediation framework for two specific examples. Consumers are willing to pay an average price premium of 60% for Chinese mustard that is free of chemical residues and of 19% for different convenience attributes of potatoes. Income levels and media have positive impacts on the willingness to pay, partly mediated through consumer perceptions.     

On dichotomous choice contingent valuation data analysis: Semiparametric methods and Genetic Programming

The aim of this paper is twofold. Firstly, we introduce a novel semiparametric technique called Genetic Programming to estimate and explain the willingness to pay to maintain environmental conditions of a specific natural park in Spain. To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first time in which Genetic Programming is employed in contingent valuation. Secondly, we investigate the existence of bias due to the functional rigidity of the traditional parametric techniques commonly employed in a contingent valuation problem. We applied standard parametric methods (logit and probit) and compared with results obtained using semiparametric methods (a proportional hazard model and a genetic program). The parametric and semiparametric methods give similar results in terms of the variables finally chosen in the model. Therefore, the results confirm the internal validity of our contingent valuation exercise.     

A Holistic vs. an Attribute‐based Approach to Agri‐Environmental Policy Valuation: Do Welfare Estimates Differ?

Different economic valuation methodologies can be used to value the non‐market benefits of an agri‐environmental scheme. In particular, the non‐market value can be examined by assessing the public’s willingness to pay for the policy outputs as a whole or by modelling the preferences of society for the component attributes of the rural landscape that result from the implementation of the policy. In this article we examine whether the welfare values estimated for an agri‐environmental policy are significantly different between an holistic valuation methodology (using contingent valuation) and an attribute‐based valuation methodology (choice experiment). It is argued that the valuation methodology chosen should be based on whether or not the overall objective is the valuation of the agri‐environment policy package in its entirety or the valuation of each of the policy’s distinct environmental outputs.     

Choice experiment,multiple programmes contingent valuation and landscape preferences: How can we support the land use decision making process?

The promotion of cost–benefit analysis for social and environmental policy choices is much debated. Then, the conception of a valuation method for the non-market benefit of these policies is still of a main research interest. Among direct valuation methods, the choice experiment method (CEM) becomes a highly attractive valuation procedure, in giving at the same time the economic value of the impacts of the different components of the policy as well as the global impact of a policy package. However, the main-effect designed protocol aiming to limit the cognitive burden of scenarios’ evaluation disregards the important question of the existence of substitution or complementary relation between these programmes for their main beneficiaries. Furthermore, the independent valuation and summation strategy developed in CEM opens to overvaluation or under valuation of the willingness to pay values. The aim of this article is to conduct testing of the additivity bias with CEM results. The distribution of the willingness to pay values for possible combinations of landscape programmes aiming to maintain two agricultural landscape attributes as well as one moorland attribute inferred from the earlier CEM survey is compared to results obtained with the sequential contingent valuation procedure for multidimensional policy suggested by Hoehn (1991). Our empirical results suggest that the additivity bias is not statistically significant in our case, even if specific relation between landscape attributes due to what we call the composition effect is of concern for the population we interviewed. Furthermore, landscape preferences derived from our empirical investigation support the need for more integration of agricultural issues with the local land-use issues.     

Contingent valuation of urban public space: A case study of Ljubljanica riverbanks

The article presents an economic valuation of the Ljubljanica riverbanks area, which is an urban cultural landscape with distinct qualities of international importance. For this purpose, we combined a classical contingent valuation with a closed-form version of discrete choice method, where the protest responses have been removed. By using econometric analysis, we obtained the willingness-to-pay (WTP) value and established its determinants. It was ascertained that residents derived more utility from implementation of the targeted development scenario than visitors. Thus, a discriminatory contribution scheme similar to the one with respect to the mean WTP could supply substantial revenue for further targeted development, while still providing ample consumer surplus for both residents and visitors. The present analysis represents one of the method’s very few applications to urban landscape in Central and Eastern European countries.