Using stated preference techniques to value four key ecosystem services on New Zealand arable land

Many researchers have noted that not only natural ecosystems but also landscapes actively modified by humans (engineered or designed ecosystems) can significantly impact the level of ecosystem goods and availability of services, thereby impacting human and social welfare. In New Zealand, agricultural lands are the largest area of engineered ecosystems on the national landscape. Study of the welfare effects of ecosystem services delivered by agricultural land can provide important insights into the management of engineered or designed ecosystems. This paper uses the contingent valuation method (CVM) and choice modelling to estimate values of four key ecosystem services: climate regulation, water regulation, soil retention and scenic views, for New Zealand land used for arable farming.     

Testing for convergent validity between travel cost and contingent valuation estimates of recreation values in the Coorong,Australia*

A number of studies valuing recreation have shown that the travel cost method (TCM) generates higher estimates of value than the contingent valuation method (CVM), even though the latter is commonly associated with potential problems of hypothetical and strategic bias. In this study, both methods have been used to estimate the recreational values associated with the Coorong on the Murray River in south‐eastern Australia. Values per adult visitor per recreation day are estimated with the TCM at $149 and with the CVM at $116. A number of methodological and framing issues to explain these value differences are tested. In summary, while no single methodological or framing issue could be identified that would reconcile the difference between TCM and CVM values, it appears likely that there may be a combination of factors that drive the systematic variations in consumer surplus values. The evidence in this study suggests that the most important of these are likely to be the different decision points underpinning data collection and the consideration of substitute sites, strategic responses and the treatment of uncertain responses within the CVM.     

Valuing options for reserve water in the Fitzroy Basin*

Option values may be an important component of non‐use values when development options for environmental assets are considered. These are values that the community might hold for maintaining options to make future choices about allocating resources. However, option values are very difficult to define, at both theoretical and practical levels, and there has been a retreat over the past decade to the more inclusive concept of option prices. In the present paper, estimates of option values are reported for retaining unallocated water in reserve rather than using it for current development. The use of option values rather than option prices is justified on the basis that the focus is on non‐use values, and demand and supply uncertainties have been minimised. These values have been assessed through a series of nine choice modelling surveys that have been conducted over a 3‐year period in the Fitzroy River Basin in central Queensland. The results are then extrapolated to the case study areas within the basin to assess whether unallocated water should be held in reserve or used for development.     

Expert judgements and community values: preference heterogeneity for protecting river ecology in Western Australia

Western Australia's Swan River is a complex asset providing environmental, recreational and commercial benefits. Agencies responsible for its management rely extensively on advice from experts, whose preferences may or may not align with those of the community. Using a choice experiment, we compared public and expert preferences for managing the river's ecology and tested the application of budget‐reallocation and personal‐cost payment vehicles. The results indicate that the budget‐reallocation method is a suitable payment vehicle for public and expert samples, although there are some differences to the more traditional personal‐cost vehicles because of different trade‐offs involved. Modelling revealed heterogeneity in preferences. Expert and public preferences were statistically different from one another at the mean, but a significant amount of heterogeneity existed in the populations sampled. The differences in preferences across both public and expert groups suggest that the measurement of public values for the environment is still an important part of the management process, even when experts are providing advice.     

Testing Choice Experiment for Benefit Transfer with Preference Heterogeneity

Benefit transfer is a cost-effective method for estimating the value of environmental goods that relies on information obtained in previous studies. The multiattribute approach of choice experiments should provide advantages in terms of benefit transfer, allowing differences in environmental improvements between sites as well as differences in socioeconomic and attitude characteristics between respondent populations. This article investigates the capability of choice experiment method to be used in environmental benefit transfer when a random parameters approach is used to allow for preference heterogeneity: we find that the inclusion of respondents' taste heterogeneity reduces the magnitude of the transfer error.     

Investigating cost non-attendance as a driver of inflated welfare estimates in mixed-logit models

Choice models are used by applied economists for many purposes, such as non-market valuation or estimating willingness to pay for novel food and product attributes. Mixed-logit models allow researchers to account for preference heterogeneity and complex decision-making processes when modelling choices. In mixed-logit models, parameters of monetary attributes such as prices typically are assumed to follow a negative lognormal random distribution to ensure that the marginal utility of a price increase is strictly negative. However, this practice can cause means and standard deviations of welfare estimates to ‘explode’ to unfeasibly large levels, as the model assumes there are some marginal utilities of cost approaching zero. This paper examines whether cost non-attendance, which occurs when respondents ignore costs in stated-preference studies, could be a cause of inflated welfare estimates when a lognormal cost parameter is used. A two-class equality-constrained latent-class model is proposed, in which the cost parameter is fixed at zero for a cost non-attender class and is specified as a random lognormal parameter for cost attenders. This proposed model produces mean welfare estimates that are 17 times lower than a mixed-logit model with a lognormal cost parameter, and 10% lower than a model with a non-random cost parameter. These results suggest that cost non-attendance can result in inflated welfare estimates when employing a lognormal cost parameter, and that accounting for cost non-attendance could be a simple, parsimonious solution to this problem.     

Testing convergent validity in choice experiments: Application to public recreation in Spanish stone pine and cork oak forests

We perform two convergent validity tests in a choice experiment applied to public recreation in Spanish stone pine and cork oak forests. Results show convergent validity between a choice and a ranking recoded as a choice format in an experiment with three alternatives plus status quo. We also find significant differences between two payment vehicles (increased trip expenditures and entrance fee) that are included simultaneously in the choice sets. We estimate aggregated recreation values using compensating variation and simulated exchange value (maximum benefits from a potential market) measures. The latter measures account for 35–51% of the former values.     

Valuing Food Store Access: Policy Implications for the Food Stamp Program

Food stamp recipients may lack access to larger stores, reducing the availability of nutritious food. Reliance on smaller stores may have undesirable impacts. Policy alternatives include limiting food stamp redemption to larger stores and subsidizing store development. I estimate that limiting redemption to supermarkets and grocery stores, or supermarkets alone, results in losses ranging from $499.2 million to $1.05 billion, or $1.17 billion to $2.44 billion (respectively) annual loss in food stamp recipient welfare nationwide. The impact of improving access is also significant, ranging from $333.6 million to $931.2 million.     

Willingness to Pay for Agricultural Land Preservation and Policy Process Attributes: Does the Method Matter?

This article examines relationships between willingness to pay for land preservation and policy process attributes. The approach departs from traditional welfare assessments in that it does not constrain attributes of the policy process to be utility-neutral. Results indicate policy process attributes may influence utility in some circumstances, even after controlling for the influence of land use outcomes often correlated with specific policy techniques. Results further imply that in some cases, even comprehensive specification of land use outcomes by stated preference instruments may be insufficient to prevent systematic shifts in willingness to pay related to unspecified, yet assumed, policy process attributes.     

Choice Modeling and Tests of Benefit Transfer

Benefit transfer is increasingly being used by decision makers as a way of estimating environmental values suitable for use in benefit cost analysis. However, recent studies examining the validity of benefit transfer of passive use values estimated using contingent valuation have rejected the hypothesis of convergent validity. In this article, we demonstrate the usage of a form of conjoint analysis known as choice modeling for benefit transfer. Choice modeling has been touted as being particularly suitable for benefit transfer because it is possible to allow for differences in environmental quality and socioeconomic characteristics when transferring benefit estimates. We demonstrate that choice modeling is suitable for benefit transfer, particularly when the transfers involve implicit prices. Second, we examine the circumstances in which benefit transfer of choice modeling derived value estimates is likely to be most valid. Two split sample tests were undertaken to achieve this objective. The evidence from these tests indicates that transfers across different case study sites are likely to be subject to less error than those across different populations.     

Ambivalent statements in contingent valuation studies: inclusive response formats and giving respondents time to think

A recent concern in the valuation literature is the uncertainty respondents feel when posed with willingness-to-pay questions for environmental amenities in hypothetical market scenarios. Using a multiple-bounded discrete-choice format, the results indicate that respondents become less ambivalent when allowed considerable time to think about the valuation task before a response is elicited. In particular they tend to reduce the reported willingness to pay associated with low certainty of paying, hence resulting in more conservative welfare estimates. Implications for the application of environmental valuation techniques are discussed.     

水资源跨区转移用水效益增值评估模型的构建与应用

对跨区转移的水资源用水效益及其增值进行测算,可以为区域之间水资源利用利益协调提供基础的参考和决策依据,保障不同用水主体之间用水利益的公平共享和水资源的可持续利用。在对各用水部门水资源用水效益评估的基础上,结合水资源跨区转移规模和各地区用水结构等因素,构建水资源跨区转移的用水效益增值评估模型。以浙江长潭水库为例,库区水利工程建成后每年向下游地区转移用水0.29亿t,利用用水效益增值评估模型测算上下游地区工业用水、农业居民用水、城镇公共用水、生态环境用水增值,最终得出水资源跨区转移总的用水效益增值为0.49亿元,验证了该评估模型的可行性和有效性。     

Estimating values for recreational fishing at freshwater dams in Queensland*

In this paper, estimates of value for recreational fishing are reported for three major freshwater impoundments in Queensland, Australia, using both travel cost and contingent valuation methods. Policy analysts often require estimates of value when analysing the importance of recreation against other uses of impoundments, or when considering the potential for further investments, such as with fish stocking programs. Different forms of the travel cost method are used to estimate separate consumer surpluses associated with two key subgroups of recreational anglers: frequent and occasional anglers. A contingent valuation study is used to estimate the marginal values associated with a potential improvement in fishing experience. The results of the travel cost analysis provide strong evidence that recreational values vary between different groups of anglers and across sites, while the contingent valuation estimates provide values for additional marginal benefits of recreational angling.     

Public preferences for controlling an invasive species in public and private spaces

Discrete choice experiments have been used in this case study to assess community benefits for the control of red imported fire ants, an aggressive ant species that were introduced by accident in 2001 to Brisbane, Australia. This invasive species could have substantial impacts on agricultural production, biodiversity, ecosystem services, infrastructure and communities. Values for avoiding impacts on three particular land uses have been assessed in this study with discrete choice experiments. The results indicated that on a per hectare basis, the value estimates to avoid infestation in public areas (schools and parks), were much higher than for private areas (housing) or natural bushland areas (protected native vegetation). There were high levels of support for eradication rather than containment strategies, despite the additional costs involved. The use of both random parameters logit and latent class models demonstrates that there is a significant heterogeneity in preferences and values for controlling or eradicating the invasive species, indicating that it may be challenging to gain and maintain political support for management options, particularly if these involve large costs or inconvenience to households.     

Improving value transfer through socio‐economic adjustments in a multicountry choice experiment of water conservation alternatives

This study tests the transferability of the nonmarket values of water conservation for domestic and environmental purposes across three south European countries and Australia applying a common choice experiment design. Different approaches are followed to test the transferability of the estimated values, aiming to minimise transfer errors for use in policy analysis, comparing both single‐ and multicountry transfers, with and without socio‐economic adjustments. Within Europe, significant differences are found between implicit prices for environmental water use, but not for domestic water use. In the Australian case study, alleviating restrictions on domestic water use has no significant value. Pooling the three European samples improves the transferability of the environmental flow values between Europe and Australia. Results show that a reduction in transfer error is achieved when controlling for unobserved and observed preference heterogeneity in the single‐ and multicountry transfers, providing additional support for the superiority of socio‐economic adjustment procedures in value transfer.     

森林绿色核算中环境服务估价方法综述和比较

综述和比较了国内外森林绿色核算中的环境服务估价方法。指出:森林环境服务实际上是指森林的间接效益,主要包括森林生态效益和社会效益。联合国等在综合环境经济核算体系中推荐的森林环境服务估价方法主要为基于成本的估价法和基于损害/受益的估价法。不同的方法估算相同的环境服务项目,结果相差几倍到几十倍不等。因此,对于森林环境服务估价来说,选择科学的估价方法非常重要,并建议我国应采用联合国等推荐的方法进行环境服务估价。     

我国土地利用结构及效益的区域差异研究

根据土地利用状况进行了类型划分,将各省域划分为3大类8个基本类型;基于省域单元对耕地、园地、林地、建设用地等的利用效益进行了研究,初步分析了形成原因。     

Non‐market valuation: usage and impacts in environmental policy and management in Australia

An extensive literature exists on environmental nonmarket valuation research. It appears that results from these studies should be useful inputs to decision‐making about environmental policy or management. Here, we investigate the extent to which this occurs in practice in Australian environmental management bodies. Nonmarket valuation experts were surveyed about their studies that they believed to have influenced policy. Then, decision‐makers in environmental bodies were interviewed about the level of influence nonmarket valuation has had on their decisions. We find that researchers' perceptions of the influence that nonmarket valuation has on decision‐making are overly optimistic. Interviews with decision‐makers suggest that nonmarket valuation is little used in decision‐making. Indeed, the majority of them are unfamiliar with nonmarket valuation techniques. Nevertheless, once the concept was explained to them, many decision‐makers believed it could benefit environmental policy. Researchers' perceptions of the reasons for low usage of nonmarket valuation are largely inaccurate. We suggest a range of strategies that economists can use to promote the use of nonmarket valuation in environmental policy and management decisions, including ways to improve communication and engagement with decision‐makers, and strategies to increase the capacity for decision‐makers to use nonmarket valuation results.     

山东半岛城市群城市用地综合效益分析

运用模糊综合评价、秩相关系数法和协调度分析法,综合评价了山东半岛城市群城市用地效益,结果表明,2000～2005年,半岛城市群的城市土地利用综合效益呈上升趋势;协调度变化则呈现两极分化,济南、烟台、威海、青岛、日照为不显著的上升趋势,淄博、东营、潍坊为不显著的下降趋势;总体来看,山东半岛城市群城市用地状况良好,但各城市的土地利用综合效益仍有待提高,尤其应注重城市土地利用综合效益的协调发展。     

A Spatial-Based Decision Support System for wood harvesting management in mountain areas

In this paper, a spatial-based economic model is proposed with the aim of estimating the most likely harvest cost of a forest block in relation to its particular morphological and operating features. This work, which is based on the classical stumpage price assessment method, presents an economic balance of a forest cut, attained by conducting a cost analysis of each logging phase of the different standard harvesting strategies. The study area is in the North-West of Italy, in the Mount Cotolivier forest compartment, in Oulx, Piedmont. The map of the stand structure, which is included in the Oulx Forest Management Plan, was used to locate blocks (areas considered homogeneous according to the stand structure and forest typology) where silvicultural cuts could be scheduled. The feasibility of the selected logging strategies was mapped considering six conditioning factors, of both a topological and a topographic nature. Their influence was weighted by means of a score assignation and integrated in a Multi-Criteria Decision Making procedure. The scores were mathematically combined to calculate a spatial dependent cost-function (Block Exploitation Aptitude, BEA) in which the suitability of each block to be harvested was mapped through a specific strategy. The obtained BEA was then used to estimate the most suitable productivity rate of the harvests of each block. The unitary costs of the strategies were estimated and then compared to find the most profitable one for each block.This model has proved to be effective in generating objective economic results concerning harvest cuts in productive stands in mountainous areas. The proposed methodology simultaneously takes into account different factors and generates feasibility scenarios, in the space domain, for the considered harvesting strategies. The proposed model represents a prototype on which an operational Decision Support System could be based to assist forest managers over the short-medium term.