Non-market economic valuation in developing countries: Role of participant observation method in CVM analysis

Developing countries have high proportion of black money and related corruption in the society in comparison to the developed ones. This aspect has to be kept in mind while conducting contingent valuation method (CVM) questionnaire survey (in-person) at the site whose economic valuation is being done. Participant observation method (POM) and unstructured interview schedule (UIS) are the two means, which must be used in addition to structured interview schedule during CVM studies in developing countries to arrive at a reasonable non-market economic valuation figure of an environmental amenity. It has been observed that researchers generally ignore this fact during survey for primary data collection among respondents who are quite well off, educated and belong to countries of huge parallel economy. However in the present study, we have utilized these two means during primary data collection for a CVM study and reached the conclusion that CVM has to be used with caution even among educated masses in the developing countries.     

干旱指数保险支付意愿研究——基于湖北省孝感市的实证分析

本文以湖北省孝感市273个农户的调查数据为依据,通过Logistic模型对农户干旱指数保险支付意愿的影响因素进行了实证分析。研究表明：被调查农户农业干旱保险意愿不强,其中72.5%的农户没有支付意愿;有支付意愿的农户愿意支付的保险费也相当低,平均只有每亩12元。基于此,本文为该地区农业干旱指数保险的发展提供相关政策建议：加大对农村的人力资本投资;增加农民收入,提高支付能力;加强农业干旱指数保险的宣传教育工作;探讨合理的农业保险补贴方式和标准;加强天气指数保险研究力度,积极推进天气指数保险试点工作。     

The conservation against development paradigm in protected areas: Valuation of ecosystem services in the Doñana social-ecological system (southwestern Spain)

The ecosystems of the Doñana social-ecological system (southwestern Spain) provide numerous ecosystem services to society. We valued the most important ecosystem services through a market-based approach, revealed-preference and stated-preference methods to assess the conservation effectiveness of the Doñana Protected Area, with consideration of existing human activities in surrounding lands. We also analysed the spatial distribution of the ecosystem services beneficiaries and the scale of their related markets. We found a clear trade-off between the local and global market values of ecosystem services because landscape management outside of the Doñana Protected Area promotes the provision of ecosystem services associated with international markets. Our results suggest that a conservation against development model occurs in the Doñana social-ecological system, in which land use intensification takes place outside of the Protected Area borders as a result of promoting marketed ecosystem services, while biodiversity conservation is the main activity inside the Protected Area. We conclude that protected areas should be part of a larger-scale, adaptive landscape management strategy in which conservation planning should be the focal element in coordinating sectoral policies in the context of social-ecological systems.     

Modeling Willingness to Pay for Coastal Tourism Resource Protection in Ko Chang Marine National Park,Thailand

The value of non-market resources is important information for the nature-based park investment and management. In this paper, we estimate visitors' willingness to pay (WTP) an entrance fee for beach resource protection of the Ko Chang Marine Park in Thailand using a standard contingent valuation method of a single-bounded (SB) and double-bounded (DB) dichotomous choice format. An on-site stratified sampling survey of 409 beach visitors was conducted at the park along the White Sand Beach shoreline. By comparing the two survey methods, the average WTP for a Thai beach visitor is about $12.01 under the SB elicitation survey and $7.27 per adult per visit under the DB elicitation method, respectively. It turns out that the foreign visitors' WTP is twice as much as that of Thai visitors' WTP. These can be translated to the lower and upper bounds of an aggregated value ranging between $10.33 million and $17.41 million per annum. The policy implications for the park management are addressed.     

Consumers' willingness to pay for food quality - The case of eggs

The aim of this paper is to introduce an approach to estimating the marginal willingness to pay (WTP) for food quality and safety using data on actual consumer purchases. Marginal WTP for specific food product varieties can be derived from estimated demand functions by inverting the relations, thereby expressing the prices consumers are willing to pay as functions of quantity demanded. The task addressed in the paper is isolation of the WTP for quality attributes embedded in the varieties. Two models based on the AIDS-specification are proposed and discussed. To illustrate the applicability of the models, the case of five varieties of eggs is presented. It is found that Danish consumers are willing to pay a relatively high premium for improved animal welfare and organic production methods and somewhat less for food safety.     

Measuring value levers: Experimental and contingent approaches

This paper compares two alternative methodologies—the experimental–behavioral approach and the contingent approach—for measuring the value that an attribute of a good (product or service) creates for potential customers. In the experimental–behavioral methodology, potential buyers make actual purchase decisions by receiving financial incentives. In the contingent approach, commonplace in marketing research and purchase decisions are hypothetical. A case–control experiment shows that both methodologies discriminate between key and less relevant attributes in purchase decisions, and provide reliable qualitative information on the value of an attribute. Contingent methodologies fail, however, to provide a reliable quantitative measure of such value.     

流域生态补偿支付意愿的影响因素分析——以湘江流域长沙段为例

以湘江流域长沙段为例,运用结构方程模型和CVM调查数据对流域生态补偿支付意愿的影响因素进行分析。研究发现,以＂外部特征＂、＂现状评价＂、＂心理特征＂取代传统研究的＂个人社会经济特征＂作为＂支付意愿＂的主要影响因素更具全面性和解释力;运用结构方程模型比传统回归模型分析更具整体建构性和优越性;居民的支付意愿不仅取决于外部条件和现实能力,也取决于居民的心理特征。     

农户生活垃圾处理支付意愿及影响因素分析——基于对南水北调中线工程水源地的调查分析

农村生活垃圾处理对提高农民生活水平,保持村容整洁具有十分重要的意义。以南水北调水源区农户为调查对象,分析农户对生活垃圾处理的认知及支付意愿。实证结果显示:58.29%的农户愿意为保护生活环境进行付费,平均付费金额为10.57元;影响农户支付意愿的关键因素为:教育程度、政治身份、性别、对环境污染的认知、收入水平。     

Fashionable food: a latent class analysis of social status in food purchases

A framed field experiment combined with a latent class econometric approach was used to investigate how prestige-seeking behaviour influences food choices. We propose a theoretical framework to test conspicuous consumption of specialty food products. We test the hypothesis empirically by categorizing individuals into unobserved latent classes according to their general prestige-seeking behaviour. We find evidence of food consumption driven by prestige to the point of becoming a symbol of social status. The prestige-seeking behaviour seems to be motivated by invidious comparison or higher-class individuals seeking to differentiate themselves from lower-class individuals; and pecuniary emulation, or lower-class individuals buying prestigious goods in order to be perceived as members of a higher class. Findings from this study revealed that the effects of differentiating labelling attributes had a higher impact for individuals classified into classes with prestige-seeking behaviour to attain an elevated social status.     

On the use of flexible mixing distributions in WTP space: an induced value choice experiment

In this study, we use data from an induced value choice experiment to compare estimates from mixed logit models in willingness to pay (WTP) space using different parameter distributional assumptions. Specifically, we test differences in WTP estimates when using flexible parameter mixing distributions (i.e. Legendre polynomials, step functions and splines) and conventional parameter distributions (normal and lognormal). Similar WTP estimates are obtained. However, we observe that WTP estimates are statistically different from the induced value when conventional distributions are assumed, but they are not when more flexible distributions are assumed. This suggests that flexible distributions can provide more reliable WTP estimates.