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.     

如何迅速缓解全球粮食危机

【美国《华尔街日报》5月13日】大力加强增加农田产量的研究。增加水利及农村交通方面的投入。以太阳能和风能为非洲农场提供电力。以不可食用的作物代替玉米为原料生产生物柴油。     

股东权力又迈出“一步”

今年10月，南方保健公司（Healthsouth）通过一项条例，如果股东提名的董事候选人战胜公司提名的候选人成功入主董事会，那么股东可以申请对其竞选费用中的合理部分予以报销。南方保健这一做法成为股东权力在董事选举领域的最新突破。     

取悦客户的上上策

用户的忠实程度对于一个公司的兴衰成败意义重大,在经济发展前景不确定的情况下更是如此.对于一个公司来说,寻找一个新的用户并与之建立商业合作关系所需要的资金是维持一个现有用户的30倍～40倍,并且这种资金常常超越了公司的成本底线.因此,公司在维持与现有用户的商业合作关系上多投入5%的资金,就能够多得到25%～55%的利润回报.     

Trade Union Membership in Europe, 1960–1990: Rediscovering Local Unions

This article compares union density rates in seven Western European countries between 1960 and 1990. In contrast to conventional analyses, the paper argues that, in countries where workplace union organization is well developed, and where unions have managed to turn the official institutions for workers' participation such as works councils into extensions of their operations, they fared better during the 1960s and 1970s than in countries where this was not the case. This difference in the fate of unions was even more pronounced during the 1980s. Unions with strong locals lost few members or actually gained some, while unions without strong local structures saw union density drop by between one-quarter and one-third.     

Democratization and Real Exchange Rates,

In this article, we combine two so far separate strands of the economic literature and argue that democratization leads to a real exchange rate appreciation. We test this hypothesis empirically for a sample of countries observed from 1980 to 2007 by combining a difference‐in‐difference approach with propensity score matching estimators. Our empirical results reveal a strong and significant finding: democratization causes real exchange rates to appreciate. Consequently, the ongoing process of democratization observed in many parts of the world is likely to reduce exchange rate distortions.