The Amenity Value of Agricultural Landscape and Rural–Urban Land Allocation

We analyse rural–urban land allocation in the light of the increasing environmental role of agricultural landscapes. The landscape amenity value of farmland varies across crops and as a result affects the optimal crop mix in addition to its effect on rural–urban land allocation. Investigating the effects of population and income growth processes, we find that, contrary to market outcomes, the socially optimal allocation may call for more farmland preservation under both processes. In an empirical application to a region in Israel, we find that the extent of market under‐supply of farmland is substantial and that population growth calls for more farmland preservation at the expense of urban land.     

Estimating Willingness to Pay for Improved Water Quality in the Presence of Item Nonresponse Bias

This article deals with the problem of item nonresponse in contingent valuation surveys using a payment-card method, by applying a grouped-data sample-selection estimation technique that is capable of imputing the missing values conditional upon a respondent's decision to answer a willingness-to-pay question. The advantage of the technique lies in its ability to utilize all of the information in the sample, permitting a more efficient estimation in the presence of item nonresponse bias. The major determinants of willingness to pay appear to be household income, number of children, education, perception of existing water quality, and identification with environmental issues.     

Choosing Brands: Fresh Produce versus Other Products

Assuming that brands contribute to quality risk reduction, prestige, and design, we derive and test hypothesis on the willingness to pay (WTP) for brands across different product categories (electronics, clothing, packaged food, and fresh produce). Using the random effect tobit model on the stated point value of WTP and the ordered probit model on the stated range of WTP, we find that WTP for brands of fresh produce is least among the four product categories controlling for relevant demographic variations. Simulations show that fresh produce has a higher optimal price premium for brands but with a much smaller market share.     

经济发达地区耕地非市场价值及居民支付意愿研究——以南京市为例

研究目的：以南京市为例,研究耕地的非市场价值及城乡居民支付意愿的影响因素。研究方法：条件价值法,计量模型。研究结果：（1）南京市耕地的非市场价值为504087.92万元,单价为20760.59元/hm2;（2）57.76%市民和60.32%的农民家庭愿意为耕地非市场价值付费,支付意愿分别为208.33元/户•a和120.26元/户•a;（3）家庭收支水平、年龄、性别、受教育状况、对耕地非市场价值的认知等是影响城乡居民支付意愿的重要因素。研究结论：受家庭支付能力及其在耕地非市场价值方面受到教育的影响,城乡居民对耕地非市场价值的支付意愿并不高。     

Genetically Modified Crops, Corporate Pricing Strategies, and Farmers' Adoption: The Case of Bt Cotton in Argentina

This article analyzes adoption and impacts of Bt cotton in Argentina against the background of monopoly pricing. Based on survey data, it is shown that the technology significantly reduces insecticide applications and increases yields; however, these advantages are curbed by the high price charged for genetically modified seeds. Using the contingent valuation method, it is shown that farmers' average willingness to pay is less than half the actual technology price. A lower price would not only increase benefits for growers, but could also multiply company profits, thus, resulting in a Pareto improvement. Implications of the sub-optimal pricing strategy are discussed.     

Consumer Willingness to Pay for Cue Attribute: The Value Beyond Its Own

Using Certified U.S. Product as a product cue, we show that consumer willingness to pay for other identifiable search and experience attributes change. Certified U.S. Product serves as a substitute for Guaranteed Tender and a complement of Guaranteed Lean. Results have important implications for policymakers and food companies interested in food labeling programs in the presence of cue attributes such as Certified U.S. Product. The substitute effects of a cue attribute on other product attributes may contribute to deteriorating product quality and the complement effects of a cue attribute could improve product quality in the market.     

基于社会资本理论的农民灌溉水价支付意愿影响因素分析模型

从社会资本角度定量研究农民灌溉水价支付意愿影响因素,采用信任指数和互助指数对社会资本进行量化,结合开放式和二分式问卷格式,改进了获得农民灌溉水价支付意愿相关数据的引导技术,并采用多元线性回归方法建立了农民灌溉水价支付意愿影响因素定量分析模型。以皂河灌区为研究区域,通过问卷调查收集基础数据,采用提出的模型分析了各因素对农民灌溉水价支付意愿的影响情况。结果表明:社会资本是影响农民灌溉水价支付意愿的重要因素之一;农户主要劳动力人数、耕地面积、供水及时性、管水者工作能力等因素对农民灌溉水价支付意愿也具有显著影响。灌溉水价的改革,应重视农民社会资本并提高灌区供水服务水平等。     

A Hedonic Analysis of Nutrition and Health Claims on Fruit Beverage Products

This paper investigates the effects on prices of nutrition and health claims for foodstuffs, in addition to other attributes, using fruit beverages as a case study. The model estimation is based on revealed purchasing behaviour for fruit beverages in the north‐east of Italy. Applying an hedonic price model, the price of a product is explained as a function of product attributes. The model estimate identifies the implicit retail‐market‐level price of specific attributes such as nutrition and health claims, ceteris paribus. Nutrition and health claims significantly affect retail prices. Our findings suggest that retail price response to nutrition and health claims differs in relation to other product attributes, showing a strong reduction of price variation among flavours when such benefits are claimed on the label.     

Towards an Integrated Marketing System of Agricultural Products in Developing Countries

The myriad of deficiencies that are responsible for derailing efforts of development in the developing countries has among its culprits, most of the marketing activities and institutions. The agricultural sector is the most important sector of development in developing countries; furthermore, it comprises the most catastrophic problems. A model is deemed necessary, one which offers the decislon makers in developing countries an opponuniv to find a solution to these identifiable problems. Such a model was proposed in this study to integrate the marketing system for their agricultural products. The model is conceptual in nature and is based on a system's approach; considerations were given to the following variables: current environments, domestic and international conditions, internal and external determinants, plans, macro and micro decisions, modifiers, spheres of activities, marketing mix, switches and ultimate output.     

Exploring customer heterogeneity with a scale-extended latent class choice model: Experimental evidence drawn from urban water users

The search for improved water pricing is central to urban water reform in many countries. Establishing efficient water prices is notoriously difficult, not least because different customers have different demands for water and yet they are presently faced with a one-size-fits-all approach to pricing and service. This is especially challenging where water availability fluctuates widely, as is the case in many parts of Australia, because the impacts of exposure to episodic periods of scarcity can differ markedly. There is now substantial interest in the notion of ‘unbundling’ the water product to provide a better fit between customers' preferences and the level of service received. Following this trend, this study provides important insights into householders' willingness to pay for a range of flexible water options using a choice experiment. The paper reports a relatively underemployed extension to the latent class modelling framework to investigate preference heterogeneity towards urban water products, including purchasing services that involve the provision of environmental and amenity outcomes. The work adds to studies that use choice data to reveal heterogeneity while improving our understanding of household customers' demands. Overall, it also brings into focus questions about the future management of water in urban contexts.     

Willingness to Pay for Rural Landscape Improvements: Combining Mixed Logit and Random‐Effects Models

This paper reports the findings from a discrete‐choice experiment designed to estimate the economic benefits associated with rural landscape improvements in Ireland. Using a mixed logit model, the panel nature of the dataset is exploited to retrieve willingness‐to‐pay values for every individual in the sample. This departs from customary approaches in which the willingness‐to‐pay estimates are normally expressed as measures of central tendency of an a priori distribution. Random‐effects models for panel data are subsequently used to identify the determinants of the individual‐specific willingness‐to‐pay estimates. In comparison with the standard methods used to incorporate individual‐specific variables into the analysis of discrete‐choice experiments, the analytical approach outlined in this paper is shown to add considerable explanatory power to the welfare estimates.     

基于有效性改进的森林环境资源条件价值评估——以武夷山自然保护区为例

森林环境资源价值评估是实施生态效益补偿和绿色GDP核算的重要基础,对其进行科学合理的定价,将加快推动森林资源纳入环境经济一体化核算工作的进程。条件价值法(CVM)作为森林环境资源价值评估的一种直接方法,对于评估"非市场化产品或服务"的价值,特别是森林环境资源的社会价值具有重要意义。考虑到该类非使用价值的分量众多,实际核算时应先进行系统分类,然后逐一加以测算。本文正是在此基础上,通过森林环境资源的供求分析,采用开放式支付卡法作为CVM的引导技术,对武夷山自然保护区居民消费意愿进行实地调查,并结合Logistic模型、因子分析确定社会价值的具体构成。最后,根据非参数估计方法计算个人支付意愿,从而极大提高了研究结果的有效性。     

Demand for milk quantity and safety in urban China: evidence from Beijing and Harbin

Urban households account for most of the milk consumption in China, but their consumption is hampered by safety concerns. Using survey data collected in Beijing and Harbin in 2010, this paper simultaneously analyses urban households' milk consumption using a multiple linear model and their willingness‐to‐pay for milk safety using an ordered choice model. The results of this study show that as income increases, urban households consume more milk and are willing to pay a higher premium for milk safety. Modern food marketing channels play a positive role in stimulating milk consumption and building consumers' confidence in milk safety. The growth in the elderly population influences milk consumption positively, but their demand for milk safety is negatively affected by higher price. The combined analysis of households' demand for milk quantity and safety may be useful to the Chinese government in promoting the development of the domestic milk industry and to dairy firms in exploring the milk market in China.     

Valuing Australian botanic collections: a combined travel‐cost and contingent valuation study*

Economic values of biological collections in three Australian botanic gardens in Canberra, Melbourne and Sydney were estimated using the travel‐cost method (TCM) and the contingent valuation method (CVM). The TCM component of the study produced average per‐trip consumer surplus (CS) values of $39 and $18 for single‐ and multiple‐site visitors, respectively, for each botanic garden, resulting in an estimate of approximately $194 million for the total social welfare generated by trips to the three sites. Marginal willingness to pay (WTP) for access to botanic gardens was also investigated through payment vehicles of entry fees or higher parking charges using the CVM component. The analysis revealed a positive mean WTP of between $3 and $5 per trip per person. The difference between the CVM and TCM results reflect the different underlying concepts of value under investigation: average CS per visit for the TCM and the utility arising from a marginal visit for the CVM. Marginal changes in CS from the TCM were derived. The confidence intervals from the TCM marginal values overlap the WTP estimates from the CVM. These findings will be useful for resource management decisions in the botanic gardens collection in Australia.     

Managing groundwater in a mining region: an opportunity to compare best‐worst and referendum data

In nonmarket valuation, practitioners must choose a format for the valuation questions. A common approach in discrete choice experiments is the ‘pick‐one’ format, often with two alternative policy proposals and a status quo from which the respondent selects. Other proposed formats, include best‐worst elicitation, where respondents are asked to indicate their most and least favoured alternative from a set. Although best‐worst formats can offer efficiency in data collection, they can also lead to responses that are difficult to reconcile with neoclassical welfare estimation. The current article explores methodological issues surrounding the use of pick‐one versus best‐worst data for nonmarket valuation, focusing on framing and status quo effects that may occur within three‐alternative discrete choice experiments. We illustrate these issues using a case study of surplus groundwater use from Western Australian mining. Results identify concerns that may render best‐worst data unsuitable for welfare estimation, including a prevalence of serial choices in which the status quo is universally chosen as the worst alternative, rendering part of the choice process deterministic. Asymmetry of preferences and serial choices can be obscured when models are estimated using ‘naively’ pooled best‐worst data. Results suggest that caution is warranted when using best‐worst data for valuation, even when pooled results appear satisfactory.     

河长制下江苏居民水环境支付意愿及其影响因素

全面推行河长制需要注重对公众参与的引导。基于对江苏居民的调研数据,组合运用二元Logistic模型和多元回归模型,分析了河长制政策宣传效果对居民水环境支付意愿的影响及其在不同群体中的异质性作用效果。研究发现：总体而言,江苏地区公众的河湖治理参与意愿较高,约75.4〖WTB3〗%〖WTBZ〗的被调查者表示愿意为水环境治理支付一定的费用;全面推行河长制可以显著提升居民的水环境支付意愿,表明该“自上而下”的治理模式对“自下而上”的公众参与同样具有较好的带动效果;河长制宣传效果对不同群体水环境支付意愿的影响存在差异,对于年均收入较高、水环境重要性感知程度较低的群体,河长制宣传效果具有更强的正向反馈。指出应进一步加大河长制宣传力度,对于不同社会群体制定差异化的水环境科普教育宣传方案;同时拓宽公众参与河长制的渠道,推动居民水环境支付意愿“变现”,实现河长与公众联动治水。     

Water Management,Spanish Irrigation Communities and Colonial Engineers

In the nineteenth century, Spanish irrigation was studied by a number of British and French engineers, who sought to acquire knowledge that could be applied to India and Algeria. In their reports, they said that Spanish irrigation communities were run by the irrigators themselves in a totally democratic way, which was not true. Although such ideas had hardly any practical consequences in colonial India and Algeria, they did have important repercussions in Spain, where the irrigation institutions came to resemble the image they had been given by the reporters, with the best results. Through the work of Elinor Ostrom, the myth created by the nineteenth‐century reporters has also eventually become an argument in favour of irrigation projects in today's developing countries being managed by water users’ associations.     

Comparing Internet and phone survey mode effects across countries and research contexts*

We compare Internet and telephone survey responses across 27 European Union nations and two research contexts: one, a choice experiment of willingness to pay to avoid power outages, and the other, a public acceptance of energy infrastructure question. The various forms of survey mode effects and the challenges of survey mode choice are documented and developed in the context of statistical theory and an application to an economics survey. We find evidence that survey mode effects vary across research contexts, and to a lesser extent, across nations. We suggest that the degree of measurement bias may be varying between research contexts, for example based on the availability of a perceived socially correct response within a given context. Future survey-based research should evaluate the choice of survey mode in a context- and region-specific manner.     

A Model of Investment under Uncertainty: Modern Irrigation Technology and Emerging Markets in Water

This article develops a stochastic dynamic model of irrigation technology adoption. It predicts that farms will not invest in modern technologies unless the expected present value of investment exceeds the cost by a potentially large hurdle rate. The article also demonstrates that, contrary to common belief, water markets can delay adoption. The introduction of a market should induce farms with abundant (scarce) water supplies to adopt earlier (later) than they would otherwise. This article was motivated by evidence that, contrary to NPV predictions, farms wait until random events such as drought drive returns significantly above costs before investing in modern irrigation technologies.     

北京市居民生活水价支付意愿及影响因素研究

基于对北京市居民生活用水户访谈与问卷调查,对北京市的东城、西城、朝阳、海淀、丰台、石景山6个区的居民生活用水户的水价支付意愿进行抽样调查,采用Logistic回归模型分析供水服务满意程度、家庭对水费负担程度、对北京缺水的认知程度、对现行水价态度等影响居民水价支付意愿的主要因素,结果显示:26.6%的被调查户愿意支付比现行水价高的水价,73.4%的调查户不愿意支付比现行水价高的水价。分析表明:用户对供水服务态度满意度越高、水费占家庭收入比重越低、对北京市缺水现状了解越多,则居民的水价支付意愿就越强烈。建议根据影响因素分析结果区分不同的目标支付群体,制定完善的水价调整政策,加大宣传力度并加强对低收入人群的水价补贴工作,从而提高居民支付意愿。