Local compensation payments for agri-environmental externalities: a panel data analysis of bargaining outcomes

We analyse local compensation payments made to farmers for providinglandscape amenities in Alpine tourist communities. These paymentsresult from political bargaining at the municipal level. Paneldata estimation shows that the probability of introducing compensationpayments depends positively on the benefits of landscape amenities.Although no impact of service provision cost is found, transactioncosts at different levels of the bargaining process reduce theprobability of payments. Compensation payments mainly occurin communities where the provision of agricultural landscapeservices is perceived as relatively low and the diversity ofthe countryside seems to be endangered. We argue that municipalcompensation payments are an important supplement to nationaland European Union policy measures in support of less-favouredareas.     

Nichtparametrisches Schätzen in Lebensdauer-Untersuchungen bei reduzierter Information

Zusammenfassung Es wird ein Verfahren angegeben, das die Schätzung von Sterbetafel-Parametern aus beschränkter, Information gestattet. Den verschiedenen Altersklassen sind Populationen mit unterschiedlichen Parametern zugeordnet. Aus diesen Populationen seien Stichproben gegeben, wobei jeweils der Umfang der Stichprobe und der Anteil der Stichprobenelemente bekannt ist, für die zum Beobachtungszeitpunkt das interessierende Ereignis noch nicht eingetreten ist. Auf der Basis dieser Informationen werden Maximum-Likelihood Schätzer der altersspezifischen Sterbewahrscheinlichkeiten und ihre Kovarianzmatrix abgeleitet. Als Restriktion werden Ordnungsrelationen zwischen den zu schätzenden Parametern berücksichtigt. In einem Monte Carlo Experiment werden Schätzwerte mit den tatsächlichen Werten der altersspezifischen Sterbewahrscheinlichkeiten verglichen. Ein Beispiel illustriert die Anwendung.

---

A procedure is designed for estimating life-table-parameters on the basis of limited information. The age-intervals are assumed to correspond to populations with different parameters. Samples of known sizes are given from these populations, where the number of individuals is known for which the interesting event has not happened up to the time of observation. On the basis of these data, maximum likelihood estimates of age-specific probabilities of dying and their variance-covariance-matrix are derived. Order restrictions on parameters to be estimated are taken into account. Monte Carlo estimates are compared with actual values of age-specific probabilities of dying. The methods proposed are demonstrated on an example.

     

Buying Online: An Analysis of Shopbot Visitors

Abstract. We conduct an empirical study on the search and purchasing behavior of buyers on an Austrian price comparison site. On such a market a consumer typically searches for the cheapest price of a given product. Reliability and service of the supplier, however, are other important characteristics of an offer. We find robust evidence of consumer behavior that can be described as a two‐stage procedure: shoppers first select a group of candidate offers based on the price only; then, in the actual buying decision consumers tradeoff a lower price with higher reliability of the retailer.     

Towards More Efficient Compensation Programmes for Tourists' Benefits From Agriculture in Europe

This paper covers nonmarket services provided by farmers for recreational purposes in several Central European regions. A regionally specified general equilibrium model is used to derive the efficiency conditions for a competitive equilibrium to guarantee a Pareto optimal outcome. Moreover, we present green agricultural compensation programmes in Europe and their assessment from an economic perspective. The empirical analysis focuses on tourists' willingness to pay (WTP) for the provision of agricultural landscape-enhancing services in Austria. A comparison of these measures with current voluntary compensation payments made to farmers for the preservation of an agricultural countryside in several Austrian tourism communities suggests that the hypothetical contingent valuation (CV) results represent a valid order of magnitude for the value of recreation-related agricultural services. As far as agricultural policy is concerned, environmental improvement, the stabilization of agricultural income levels, diminishing intrasectoral income differences, and the development of economically disadvantaged rural regions can be expected from directly subsidizing farmers for the provision of countryside amenities.