Do native and invasive labels affect consumer willingness to pay for plants? Evidence from experimental auctions

Ornamental plant sales have been identified as an important vector for the introduction of invasive plants. Increased concerns about the economic and ecological costs of invasive plants have spawned interest in identifying strategies to curtail introductions. One possible strategy is labeling plants based on whether they are invasive or native. The primary purpose of this paper was to explore how labeling plants based on invasive and native attributes might affect consumer demand. To accomplish this objective, a second price auction was used to elicit the willingness to pay (WTP) for plants with and without labels. On average, we found a $0.35 premium for plants labeled as noninvasive and native and a $1.01 to $1.66 discount for plants labeled as invasive. The size of these premiums and discounts differed in relation to various demographic, attitudinal, and preference‐related factors. Overall, our results suggest that labeling plants as invasive or native could be a viable strategy for reducing the introduction of invasive plants.     

Are French consumers ready to pay a premium for eco‐labeled seafood products? A contingent valuation estimation with heterogeneous anchoring

Could the future French eco‐label for fresh seafood products find its place in the French market? This study employs a contingent valuation method to estimate French consumers’ willingness‐to‐pay (WTP) for eco‐labeled fresh seafood products. We exploit original data from a survey carried out in 2010, where 626 participants responded to a double‐bounded dichotomous choice model, through an ascending or descending bid system. Controlling for shift and anchoring effects in random effect probit models, we significantly improve estimation of WTP and its determinants for the three species studied (monkfish, lobster, sole), in particular when using heterogeneous anchoring. We show that WTP is positively correlated to respondents’ income, and also to their environmental concern, to living alone, to living far from the coast, and to trusting NGOs or public institutions more than producer organizations to implement an eco‐label. We also show that the mean price premiums do not differ between species. Finally, on average, the maximum premium consumers accepted to pay is approximately 10% of the product price.     

Product quality and value from consumer perspective—An application to wooden products

Product quality as perceived by consumers is studied with the use of empirical survey data on wooden flooring/panelling materials and on wooden furniture markets in Finland. The results indicate that consumers’ quality perceptions are consistent for the two product categories. Perceived product quality may be understood as a hierarchical structure, which consists of tangible and intangible dimensions, and is fairly consistent for different products. The most abstract dimensions are reflected in more specific sub-dimensions and product attributes. For consumers, the quality of the tangible product is more important than the quality of the product intangibles in the case of wooden products. Perceived product value is determined as customers’ judgement of the relationship between perceived product quality and price. It was also observed to be a two-dimensional structure with tangible and intangible dimensions. The observed dimensions of perceived product quality and value were logically linked.     

Consumers’ Trust in Food Quality and Willingness to Pay More for National Parks’ Brands: Preliminary Evidence From Italy

In Italy, national parks allow the use of their brand logo and name on the labels of food products produced by firms located within the national parks. However, no empirical research has yet investigated the impact of national park brands on consumers’ attitudes and behaviors. Hence, this empirical study explores the factors that influence consumer trust in food quality and their willingness to pay premium prices for the national park brands. Results from a survey involving a sample of 227 Italian consumers suggest that women and younger consumers trust more and are more willing to pay for national park brands. The origin of food products associated with national parks, naturalness of foods, food quality certifications and branding, and the environment in which the packaged foods originate influence consumer confidence and buying behavior. Implications for food marketers and policymakers are discussed.     

Rural Bangladeshi consumers’ (un)willingness to pay for low-milled rice: Implications for zinc biofortification

Zinc deficiency is a severe public health problem in Bangladesh. We examine the effects of nutritional information on rural consumers’ willingness-to-pay (WTP) for two ways to increase zinc intake through rice, the main staple crop–low-milling that gives rice grains a distinctive light brown color (a visible trait) and sets it apart from the culturally preferred high-milled white rice grain and biofortification of rice with increased zinc content (an invisible trait), which is also low-milled to retain maximum zinc content. Results of our economic experiments suggest that with nutritional information, consumers are willing to pay a premium of 4.6% for zinc biofortified rice compared to non-biofortified rice, when milled at the same level. However, results confirm the strong preference for high-milled rice by Bangladeshi consumers who discounted low-milled rice by 8%–10% even after receiving information on the nutritional benefits of biofortified or low-milled rice. We find that consumers’ WTP for the two high-zinc-low-milled rice types (biofortified and non-biofortified) is positively correlated with being a female, more educated, belonging to households engaged in non-farm activities and with children under 5 years of age. Results point to the importance of nutritional awareness campaigns for increasing zinc biofortified and low-milled rice consumption and guiding the targeting strategy for such campaigns. Given the consumer preference for high-milled rice, this study also points to the need for exploring the rice fortification strategy to address the challenge of malnutrition.     

How sensitive is U.S. agricultural trade to the bilateral exchange rate? Evidence from bulk,intermediate, and consumer‐oriented products

This article examines the dynamic effects of changes in bilateral exchange rates on changes in bilateral trade of bulk, intermediate, and consumer‐oriented agricultural products between the United States and its 10 major trading partners. We find that, for consumer‐oriented products, U.S. exports are highly sensitive to bilateral exchange rates in both the short and long run, while U.S. imports are mostly responsive only in the short run. For bulk products, on the other hand, U.S. exports and imports are relatively insensitive to exchange rate changes in both the short and long run. For intermediate products, exports and imports are responsive to exchange rate changes in the short run, but not in the long run. It is also found that income of the United States and its trading partners has a significant effect on U.S. exports and imports of the three types of agricultural products in both the short and long run.     

Is public investment complementary to private investment in Indian agriculture? Evidence from NARDL approach

The issue of complementarity between public farm investment and private farm investment in Indian agriculture is an unsettled empirical question in the literature, which has not been studied adequately. Few studies analyzing the trends of both types of investments have produced contradictory results. Thus, this study attempts to bridge that gap, by examining the hypothesis of crowding‐in/crowding‐out effect of public sector investment on private investment. Time series data for a period of 45 years from 1971 to 2015 has been used. Adopting a ‘nonlinear auto‐regressive distributive lag’ (NARDL) model the study confirms a strong crowding‐in effect of public investment on private investment in short run, but relatively a weak complementarity between the two over long‐run. Moreover, the public canal intensity as a major component of public investment has been observed to have much stronger effect on private investment than the public investment itself. It is also found that private investment is constrained by its own lagged values, institutional credit and terms of trade during both short‐run and long‐run. The policy suggestion of this study calls for an immediate arrest of declining trend of public investment.     

Consumer’s Preference and Willingness to Pay for Apple Attributes: A Choice Experiment in Large Retail Outlets in Bologna (Italy)

ABSTRACT

We analyze the relevant quality attributes of apples which drive and influence consumer choice in the city of Bologna (Italy). A hypothetical choice experiment was conducted to elicit Italian consumer’s willingness to pay for apple attributes and was included as a part of a questionnaire survey. A group of 301 consumers were surveyed in Bologna in July and August 2016. Data were analyzed using a multinomial logit model. Results suggest Italian consumers are willing to pay more for yellow apples and for apples harvested in Trentino-Alto Adige region, compared with other Italian areas. Furthermore, results highlight a preference for locally produced apples, whereas organic apples are only slightly preferred to the not organic alternative. Results of this study could be used to develop marketing strategies for apple differentiation or for a new product development and target the right product to the right consumer.     

Traceability and ethical concerns in the UK wheat—bread chain: from food safety to provenance to transparency

Traceability systems that track both physical entities and their less tangible attributes are increasingly widely used in contemporary food supply to meet a range of regulatory and commercial objectives, including a growing number of ethical concerns. Even with a traditional combinable and blended food crop such as wheat to bread there is clear evidence of traceability from the variety and crop in the field through to the mill to the bakery to the shelf. This study examines the traceability systems that have emerged in the wheat to bread supply in the UK, and the ethical concerns that have emerged within this supply process. The study reveals that these ethical concerns are dynamic and evolving and are contested. In the case of the supply chains studied, a priority concern with safety aspects has been followed by an emerging greater focus upon the provenance of the wheat and flour and upon the environmental impacts of the more industrialized supply chains. A study of the traceability schemes in the chains and the views of the stakeholders reflects quite restricted ‘fields of ethical vision’. The governance and the transmission of information along the chains to the final consumer are quite restricted and partial, inhibiting transparency. The realization of greater transparency and ethical traceability to address different moral perspectives will need further changes in the governance and operation of the supply chains.     

Who drives the formation and adoption of the increasing versus decreasing balance policy?—Evidence from a policy process analysis

The “increasing versus decreasing balance policy (IDB)” is an important land use innovation in China and it transfers developmental rights from less productive rural land to more productive urban construction land. Since its initiation in 2000, it was soon adopted in almost all provinces in China. In the process of transferring developmental rights, what roles do different levels of governments play and why? To answer these questions, this research conducts a policy process analysis by combing the methods of process tracing and multi-level event history analysis. It finds that the policy process of IDB is a bottom-up one. The prefectural level governments are the engine of the whole process for they gain direct benefit from the transfer of developmental right. Provincial governments, on the one hand, act as a hub connecting local to central; on the other hand, fail to regulate and supervise the implementation. Central government is pushed by the force from local to enact the policy of IDB but also shows lukewarm support to it with a concern that it might deviate from the Pareto increase and damaged peasants’ wellbeing. This research explores the complicated inter-governmental relations in land policy-making process in China and also proposes policy implication on IDB’s future implementation.     

Bridging between the regional degree and the community approaches to rurality—A suggestion for a definition of rurality for everyday use

The territorial approach to rural development highlights the role of local actors, networks, culture, nature and landscape amenities. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) definition of rurality is, however, not capable of dealing with local and community definitions of rurality, which vary from study to study. In everyday life, physical planners, rural policymakers and local rural actors need a consistent definition of rurality. The reason is that structural reforms have led to larger administrative units that have less experience-based knowledge about the individual rural communities within a municipality than do local authorities. In this article, we propose a consistent definition of rurality that is easy for physical planners, rural policy makers and local rural actors to understand and apply in everyday use. In addition, our definition will be able to deal with both the regional and the community approach to rurality. This definition is based on an interdisciplinary literature review that starts with land cover and geographical mapping. The definition is then applied to the case of Denmark.     

A legal framework with scientific basis for applying the ‘polluter pays principle’ to soil conservation in rural watersheds in Brazil

The “polluter pays principle” (PPP) has been looked at from the perspective of legal values and technical principles, namely of soil science, to evaluate the acceleration of soil erosion and the consequent development of degraded areas in the Uberaba River basin (area: 2419 km²), state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. Having accomplished this goal, the study highlights the importance of PPP for the conservation of soil and development of an ecologically equilibrated environment. The diagnosis of degraded areas was based on the coupling of a Geographic Information System with soil loss, land use conflict and tolerance to soil loss models, and revealed a preoccupying situation because an extension of approximately 905 km² (1/3 of the basin) has been considered in advanced state of degradation potentially causing environmental damage (e.g., decline of soil fertility and hence crop production, negative impacts of soil particles export on stream and lake water quality and biodiversity of riverine ecosystems). Facing this problem, a legal framework standing on doctrinaire principles, federal laws and the Brazilian Constitution has been proposed whereby the protagonists of soil degradation are called to assume responsibility as well as the costs of repairing this negative condition. Although the study has been carried out on a specific country under pre-defined settings, the rationale behind the proposals can easily be transposed to other scenarios because the scientific methods on which soil degradation has been defined and mapped are generally applicable, while the suggested legal values are currently applied to many regions on the planet.     

Hope for new communities as an alternative to sprawl?: Insights from developer perceptions of amenities in future new communities in the U.S. and U.K

New Communities are again being promoted as an alternative to sprawling urban growth. This paper uses the results of a unique survey of the real estate development communities in the U.S. and U.K. to examine the likelihood that future New Communities will provide the array of amenities necessary to create developments that provide a true alternative to sprawl. Based on an analysis of this data we conclude that while developers do envision New Communities as more amenity rich than much of the suburban master-planned communities of the last few decades, they are nonetheless still likely to produce developments that have an insufficient array of amenities to make future New Communities a strong alternative to sprawl.