Estimating the Economic Value of Statistical Life in China： A Study of the Willingness to Pay for Cancer Prevention

This paper reports the results of a Contingent Valuation （CV） study on cancer prevention where Multiple-Bounded Dichotomous Choice （MBDC） questions are asked of rural residents in China about their willingness to pay （WTP） for a hypothetical cancer vaccine which is expected to be effective for one year. The WTP data are analyzed with region-, age- and gender-specific cancer morbidity and mortality risk statistics; an upper and lower bound of the Value of a Statistical Life （VSL） are then estimated. The estimated VSL is between 481 and 814 thousand yuan （or 58 and 98 thousand US dollars） at 2000 constant prices, which is compatible with the results of previous studies.     

Sustainable tourism development of globally important agriculural heritage sites： a case study of ＂traditional rice-fish agriculture system＂

Traditional rice-fish agricultural heritage site in Qingtian County, China, one of the pilot sites of Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems （GIAHS）, is of great value in tourism development. This paper aims to explore how to realize sustainable tourism development in agricultural heritage site through identifying current problems in GIAHS site. and making constructive recommendations for coupled development of heritage preservation and economic development. Field survey was carried out and data was collected through field questionnaire surveys of tourists and residents in Longxian Village of Qingtian County, as well as interviews of residents with semi. structured questionnaires for their perceptions and attitudes to tourism development. The following results are got： （1） the tourism industry is still at its early state of Non, tale tourism （enjoy and experience authentic country life- style）, under very limited administrative management; （2） what attracts visitors most are delicious.fish and beautiful natural environment, but not agricultural heritage itself; （3） most tourists eome from adjacent areas and stay. only half day, many of whom pay their visits twice or more; （4） a few local residents take part in the activities of tourism industry, but in very limited manners even if they do. Current patterns of tourism development are casting negative impacts on agricultural heritage. Conservatton of agricultural heritage should be put in the first place for sustainable tourism development.Agricultural heritage, as a key attraction, should be taken as the focus for tourism development. The important thing is to change the present Nongjiale tourism into real heritage tourism, to establish a cooperative mechanism among different stakeholders. and to increase local residents＇ income through engaging in tourism industry.     

Game of Property Rights and System Change

Governments＇ protection and support are very important for rural enterprises during their birth and development. But, in fact, governments own the rights to control the operation of rural enterprises to a large extent. Govemments encourage and lead the reform of property rights of rural enterprises. Why governments are willing to give up vested interests, and actively promote the reform of property rights of rural enterprises？ This seems to be the key to explain the reform of property rights of rural enterprises. This paper puts forward the hypothesis, uses mathematical models and statistical analyses, and adopts relevant data to verify the needs of governments for fiscal targets, and the rationality of their behavior actively encourages and promotes reconstruction during the reform for maximizing their interests.     

Empirical Examination of the Effects of Competition and Regulation on Public Universities and Colleges＇ Performance in China

Competition and regulation are indispensable entities for a university＇s improved performance. Using university rating as an index to performance, empirical analyses with the data from 145 public universities and colleges in China show that increased competition in the education service market is associated with higher university＇s （college＇s） performance. And increased competition in R＆D may make a quadratic effect on university＇s （college＇s） performance. University＇s performance improves when a university is directed as a branch of the central government because they enjoy some degree of management flexibility more than the local government controlled ones. A major implication of the study is the need to reform competition and regulation for improving universities and colleges＇ operating performance in China.     

Modeling the growth and policy implications of Global System for Mobile Telecommunication （GSM） in Nigeria

This paper investigated the growth and policy implications of Global System for Mobile Communication in Nigeria. Stochastic economic modeling was used to analyze Nigeria＇s time series data. The models were adjudged reliable before they were used. The components of the model were defined and a prior expectation of the relationship among the variables explained for the purpose of giving the reviewers and users a deep insight into the phenomenon under study. The secondary data used for the study were processed using the E-View for windows electronic packages. The outcome of the empirical and stochastic investigations shows that Global System for Mobile Communication has a positive relationship with output growth in Nigeria. The impact is of a higher magnitude. The usage of Global System for Mobile Telecommunication led to 17 percent rise in the output growth. The findings suggest the need for the Nigerian Communication Commission （NCC） and the federal government of Nigeria to expand tele-density and directly make telephone communications cheap and accessible. To achieve this goal, more licenses should be given to GSM operators in order to allow for healthy competition among them. This will lead to improved quality of services, quality of product and consequently sustain the growth and development of the country.     

A study on the evolution of land use for modern urbanization in China： 1952-2005

Modern cities and towns play as the central places of wealth accumulation for human-being, not only in the ways of settlement and material consumption as they were traditionally in ancient time, but also in the ways of social production and environmental pollution as they are mostly today. With such a transition, the meaning of land use for urbanization has broadened. According to the rule of human ecosystem, land use for modern urbanization can be divided into three types： namely, the direct, the indirect and the induced. However, its structure follows its own way of the direct 〈 the indirect 〈 the induced, rather different from what it normally happens in the natural ecosystem. This paper takes China as an example, calculates the evolution of the land used by cities and towns during 1952-2005 according to statistics, and then analyzes the evolvement of the structure. At last, it puts forward several countermeasures to ensure land resource requirement for urbanization in future.     

Mixed Market Competition in a Quality Differentiated Duopoly Model An Approach to Banking Sector

This paper attempts to develop a theoretical framework to investigate the competitive implications of quality choices of financial institutions whereby they charge prices to consumers based on their willingness to pay for the service qualities in the mixed market scenario under vertical product differentiation model. Initially, it analyzes benchmark equilibrium solutions of monopoly and duopoly to establish the degree of quality differentiation between two private banks in an uncover market configuration. Further, it estimates the quality differentiation between private and public banks, and examines the interaction between two market structures keeping public bank as both leader and follower, and then measures the social welfare from different prospectives. The explicit operation of two stages Nash equilibrium game forecasted that public banks＇ monopoly seems to be still better than a private banking, and it is socially optimal. The outcome demonstrates a significant importance of vertical quality differentiation for policy implication in banking industry and provides an insight on the reasons of particular co-existence of public and private banking services in the specified location. In this context, it is concluded that the presence of public banks in banking industries is a crucial condition for obtaining the higher range of social welfare.     

Social spatial changes： Booster for a new regional policy——The event of Silao and Romita counties in Guanajuato Mexico

Today, one of the most important phenomenons is the movement of Capital and the expansion of its investments, as well as the use of resources worldwide. The movement of Capital, is changing the local space and the territories, because is not a homogeneous process; they are not in the same way and rhythm, this is because they don＇t get in the same way to global dynamics. The reorganization of the world, because the movements in Capital is a challenge, that is why, the analysis of regions demand new and different views, to boost regional development. We can tell that since a long time ago, had been developing theories and proposals not good enough, for this reason we must think to generate new proposals. The goal of this paper, is to expose the social and territorial changes in Silao and Romita Counties in the state of Guanajuato Mexico, as a result of the relocation of economic activities that lead us to start a new regional policy, that gives more satisfactory results and think about a regional policy that could reflex about territorial development focuses, specially for a public policy.     

The Hukou and Land Tenure Systems as Two Middle Income Traps--The Case of Modern China

China＇s prevailing hukou （household registration） system and land tenure system seem to be very different in their applications. In fact, they both function to deny the exit right of rural residents from a rural community. Under these systems, rural residents are not allowed to freely exit from collectives if they do not want to lose their entitlements, such as their rights to using collectively owned land and their land-based properties. Farmers are neither allowed to sell their houses to outsiders, nor allowed to sell to outsiders their rights to contracting a piece of land from the collective where their households are registered. For migrant workers from rural areas, it is extremely difficult for them to obtain an urban hukou with all its associated entitlements at an urban locality where they currently work and live. The combined effect of the two systems leads to serious distortions in labor and land markets, resulting in discrimination against migrant workers, sprawling yet exclusive urbanization, housing bubbles, and depressed domestic demand. These distortions further entrench the existing and much widened urban/rural divide. Unless these two systems are thoroughly reformed, the rural residents in Chinese mainland will be trapped in their comparatively much lower income and remain unable to share the gains from the agglomeration effects of urbanization.     

On the design of ＂carbon neutral＂ mode for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games

＂Green Olympics＂ is one of the three main ideas for the Beijing 2008 Olympics. ＂carbon neutral＂, an environmental protection movement targeted at the reduction of CO2 emission, has gradually become a standard for sustainable development. In this paper, in-depth analysis is conducted on both the idea of ＂Green Olympics＂ and ＂carbon neutral＂, a strategic plan of combining the ideas of Beijing ＂Green Olympics＂ and ＂carbon neutral＂ is designed, and suggestions on technical and economic public policies are put forward for the ＂carbon neutral＂ plan of the Beijing 2008 Green Olympics.     

The Value of Household Water Service Quality in Lahore,Pakistan

Most existing literature focuses on the benefits of establishing basic drinking water access for unserved populations, the extensive water supply margin. In contrast, this article examines the intensive margin—the benefits of improving water service to under-served households, a growing population in developing country cities. We use contingent valuation to estimate willingness to pay (WTP) for improved piped water quality and reductions in supply interruptions among a sample of 193 households in Lahore, Pakistan. The distribution of WTP is described using parametric and non-parametric models. Results indicate that households in Lahore are willing to pay about 7.50 to7.50 to 9 per month for piped water supply that is clean and drinkable directly from the tap—comparable to the monthly cost of in-home water treatment, and about three to four times the average monthly water bill for sample households using piped water. Estimates of WTP for reducing supply interruptions are both smaller and more difficult to interpret, since a significant fraction of the estimated WTP distribution for supply improvements is negative. All of our WTP estimates are well below 4% of monthly household income, the World Bank’s benchmark upper bound for affordable water service.     

Willingness to pay for improved air quality in Sweden

The aim of the paper is to quantify individual willingness-to-pay measures of improved air quality in Sweden by using the Contingent Valuation Method (CVM). Such measures are important for policy makers when deciding about public investments and policy instruments in order to regulate environmental impacts, e.g. from road transportation and industry. The mean willingness to pay (WTP) for a 50% reduction of harmful substances where the respondents live and work was about 2000 SEK/year, which is of the same order of magnitude as earlier stated preference studies in Nordic countries. Most parameters in the econometric analysis had the expected sign. WTP was increasing in income, wealth and education; it was larger for men, members of environmental organizations, people living in big cities (which are on average more polluted), and people who own their house or apartment. It was lower for retired people. However, the additional WTP for people in big cities, although significantly higher than for other people, was lower than expected, indicating a possible insensitivity-to-scope effect.     

Willingness to pay to control PM2.5 pollution in Jing-Jin-Ji Region,China

This letter aims to study individual willingness to pay (WTP) to mitigate PM_2.5 pollution in the Jing-Jin-Ji region by using contingent valuation method. Our survey indicated that residents in this region were highly concerned about PM_2.5 pollution control and supported PM_2.5 pollution control policies. In this study, a payment card (PC) format is used to elicit residents’ perceived WTP. With a two-part model, we estimate the mean WTP for an 80% reduction of severe PM_2.5 polluting days in this region is 602 CNY a year, approximately accounts for 1% of the GDP per capita. This result indicates an important funding source for the government to control PM_2.5 pollution in the region. In the econometric analysis, the mean WTP is found to significantly relate with income, expense, age and education level. It decreases with income, age and educational level, but increases with expense, and it is higher for females, people who have children, own cars and apartments but lower for those having larger families. By comparing with relevant researches, this letter indicates a strong and ever-increasing WTP for air pollution control among residents in the Jing-Jin-Ji region, China.     

Discrete Choice Experiments in Developing Countries: Willingness to Pay Versus Willingness to Work

A concern when conducting stated preference valuation studies in rural developing or very low income contexts is the use of monetary willingness to pay (WTP) estimates. In circumstances where cash incomes are extremely low, a significant proportion of the population are not engaged in waged labour and the exchange of goods or services is augmented through barter or work exchange, the role of money is likely to be different from that within an urban developed setting. As such, ability to pay using money may be impaired and downwardly biased when compared with other mediums of exchange. In recognition of this several studies have used hypothetical labour contributions as payment vehicles and a common finding is that households are more often willing to contribute labour than they are money. In this paper we present the results of a split sample DCE using money and labour contributions as payment vehicles for improved drinking water quality in Kandal Province, Cambodia. We find little differences between the payment vehicles in terms of attribute non-attendance, marginal utilities of attributes or derived welfare values. We argue that this provides support for the use of WTP in rural developing areas where there are functioning labour markets.     

Behavioural responses to science-based eco-labelling: gold,silver, or bronze

This study uses unique data collected from field experiments to investigate consumer willingness to pay (WTP) for otherwise homogeneous commodities that provide different levels of environmental services. On average, individuals are willing to pay more for products that provide a higher level of ecosystem services. This effect is larger when the label contains symbols that explicitly differentiate the levels. The effect magnitude is further amplified when it contains brief information on the scientific basis for the levels. However, our results also suggest that the WTP premium for the superior product is smaller than the discount in WTP for the inferior product.     

WILLINGNESS TO PAY FOR AIR QUALITY: THE CASE OF OUTDOOR EXERCISE

This study uses a contingent valuation (CV) survey to establish a sample of outdoor exercisers' willingness to pay (WTP) for ambient air quality improvements in East Baton Rouge parish, Louisiana. Estimated annual median and mean WTP values are £95 and £191, respectively, per person per year for assurance that ozone levels would not become "unhealthful" on any day. The survey informed respondents that in the prior year the local community experienced 14 days on which ozone levels exceeded federal standards. The study makes the strong assumptions that respondents believed they were "buying" 14 more healthy days and that WTP per day "bought" is constant. Given these assumptions, one can scale this WTP response to represent annual medians and means of approximately £7 and £14 per person per day, respectively. An econometric procedure for generalizing the community's annual WTP to avoid the 14 unhealthful days yields estimates ranging from £3.21 and £5.36 per person per healthy day, or between £12.4 and £20.6 million per year. The unit day estimates are comparable to CV and household production finction estimates of WTP in the Los Angeles basin, suggesting their usefulness for benefits transfer .     

城乡居民对水源地保护的支付意愿差异分析——以北京水源地为例

基于城乡比较的视角,利用调查数据,运用意愿调查法分析了城乡居民对水源地保护的支付意愿及其差异。研究结果显示:虽然农村居民的收入较低,但是农村居民对水源地保护的响应程度要高于城区居民,且农村居民对水源地保护的户均支付意愿也高于城区居民,但农村居民的总支付意愿比城区居民小;从支付意愿的影响因素来看,城区居民与农村居民并没有表现出明显的差异性,即均表现为受教育程度、家庭收入对支付意愿有显著的正向影响,而年龄对支付意愿有显著的负向影响;从拒绝支付的理由来看,绝大多数农村居民拒绝支付的主要原因是收入低、没有能力支付,而超过半数的城区居民认为水源地保护是政府、自来水公司等其他主体的责任。     

The missing piece: Valuing averting behavior for children's ozone exposures

Individuals can reduce their exposure to air pollution by reducing the amount of time they spend outdoors. Reducing outdoor time is an example of an averting behavior that should be measured as part of willingness to pay (WTP) for improvements in air quality. In this paper, we estimate parents’ WTP to prevent restrictions on a child's outdoor time from a stated-preference (SP) conjoint survey. We combine this WTP measure with an estimate of reductions in time spent outdoors on high-ozone days from an activity-diary study to estimate this averting behavior component of WTP for reductions in ozone pollution.     

The role of uncertainty in the relationship between fairness evaluations and willingness to pay

Participants in contingent valuation studies may be uncertain about a number of aspects of the policy and survey context. The uncertainty management model of fairness judgments states that individuals will evaluate a policy in terms of its fairness when they do not know whether they can trust the relevant managing authority or experience uncertainty due to insufficient knowledge of the general issues surrounding the environmental policy. Similarly, some researchers have suggested that, not knowing how to answer WTP questions, participants convey their general attitudes toward the public good rather than report well-defined economic preferences. These contentions were investigated in a sample of 840 residents in four urban catchments across Australia who were interviewed about their WTP for stormwater pollution abatement. Four sources of uncertainty were measured: amount of prior issue-related thought, trustworthiness of the water authority, insufficient scenario information, and WTP response uncertainty. A logistic regression model was estimated in each subsample to test the main effects of the uncertainty sources on WTP as well as their interaction with fairness and proenvironmental attitudes. Results indicated support for the uncertainty management model in only one of the four samples. Similarly, proenvironmental attitudes interacted rarely with uncertainty to a significant level, and in ways that were more complex than hypothesised. It was concluded that uncertain individuals were generally not more likely than other participants to draw on either fairness evaluations or proenvironmental attitudes when making decisions about paying for stormwater pollution abatement.     

Use of Contingent Valuation to Elicit Willingness-to-Pay for the Benefits of Developmental Health Risk Reductions

We report the results of several contingent valuation (CV) surveys to elicit willingness-to-pay values from the general public for risk reductions associated with decreases in exposure to a chemical, PCBs, in the environment. We also develop Quality Adjusted Life Years (QALYs) from the survey using both standard gamble and time-tradeoff elicitation methods to explore the relationship between QALYs and willingness-to-pay (WTP), and to develop QALY weights for subtle developmental effects. The results of the CV surveys are designed for incorporation into a case study of an integrated risk model to monetize the benefits of predicted risk reductions. Respondents showed a nearly proportional, positive relationship between decreasing the risk of a 6-point reduction in IQ (a standard measure of “intelligence”) and WTP, but showed a negative relationship between risk reduction and WTP for reading comprehension as an outcome. The range of mortality risks that respondents would accept on behalf of their (hypothetical) 10-year-old child is 2 in 10,000 to 9 in 1,000 per IQ point, and WTP per IQ point is $466 ($380, $520). QALY weights elicited via time tradeoff (reduction in life expectancy) were significantly different from QALY weights elicited via a standard gamble (p = 0.001). Respondents who answered questions about ecological endpoints first were willing to pay a small additional amount when asked about human health effects, but those respondents who answered questions about human health endpoints first were not willing to pay any additional amount when subsequently asked about ecological effects. This paper has not been submitted elsewhere in identical or similar form, nor will it be during the first three months after its submission to the Publisher.