On the Mismatches between the Monetary and Social Values of Air Purification in the Colombian Andean Region: A Case Study

There is growing interest in air quality and air purification, due to current high pollution levels, their effects on human health, and implications for urban economies. Since the improvement of air quality carries important economic value, air-related benefits have been evaluated monetarily from two perspectives: the first relates to air quality improvements, while the second values air purification as an ecosystem function. This research opted for the second perspective, given that the study area (two Colombian municipalities) does not suffer from poor air quality conditions, but stakeholders prioritized this function as highly important to them. Contingent valuation methods were applied in order to identify the population’s probability of willingness to maintain the air purification function. Although individuals (n = 245) attribute a yearly monetary value of USD 1.5 million to air purification, it was found that, despite the high level of social importance that respondents assigned to air purification (mean = 4.7/5), this had no correlation with payment values (rho = 0.0134, p = 0.8350); that is, households do not really recognize the monetary value of all the benefits they receive or the benefits they would lose if the service suffers changes. Hence, it is posed that monetary values do not necessarily reflect the social importance that individuals assign to ecosystem services, and attention is called to the need to integrate social and monetary values into decision-making processes, so as to encompass the complexity of ecosystem services and conciliate conflicting valuation language.

Willingness to pay for an intervention that reduces soda consumption among a sample of middle-class adult Mexicans

Background Despite the growing public awareness of the adverse health effects of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB) consumption in Mexico, little is known about the population’s intention to reduce SSB consumption and the social value of interventions to accomplish such behavioral change. Therefore, the objective of this study was to assess the willingness to pay (WTP) for an intervention that reduces soda consumption by half in Mexico. Methods We applied contingent valuation methods in a sample of 471 Mexican adults from a cohort study. We assessed the relative value of benefits by providing incremental information to participants in three scenarios: soda consumption reduction, + health benefits, + social benefits. To estimate factors associated with the WTP, we ran an interval regression. Results 87% of respondents reported they would like to reduce SSB consumption. High soda consumption, intention to reduce soda consumption and higher household income are associated with higher WTP. We found that the WTP increases as additional benefits are provided. The WTP, as a proportion of income, is higher for the lowest income level. Conclusion The average WTP per person may be seen as the minimum amount the country should invest on interventions to reduce soda consumption.

Measuring Farmers Risk Aversion in Facing Climate Change in Bengawan Solo Watershed

This research aims to understand the effect of risk aversion on the farmers’ willingness to pay (WTP) to mitigate on climate change and identify the relationship between climate change and agriculture sectors’ growth at Bengawan Solo Sub-Watershed in Upper Area. We use primary data obtained through interviews with 104 respondents, who are farmers from Sribit Village in Sragen Regency. The sampling techniques are purposive non-probability sampling. The data analysis using contingent valuation methods (CVM) and Multiple Linear Log Regression. Meanwhile, the secondary data obtained from The Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS), World Bank, and Germanwatch is collected to identify the effect of climate change on the agricultural sector. This research result shows that risk aversion does not affect farmers’ WTP to do adaptation. The variable of land area, education, and input cost affect significantly (5%), while working experience also affect to WTP at 10% significance level. The implication of low-risk aversion implies farmers not aware of climate change. Risk reduction efforts will not be a priority for farmers because the advantages to adaptation is not worthy. The relationship between production levels and negative climate change scores confirms that climate change can reduce farmer production.

The Development and Promotion of Sweet Potato Yoghurt in Ghana: Implications for Sustainable Production and Consumption Policies

This paper analyzes how a newly developed food product (potagurt) with nutritional and health benefits can be promoted in Ghana. We employ the hedonic modeling and contingent valuation methods to estimate monetary values attached to the product’s attributes using 400 consumers in the Ashanti, Eastern, and Greater Accra regions of Ghana. The findings reveal that consumers have positive perceptions on the health and nutritional benefits of the product. Buyers place a higher value on potagurt relative to normal yogurt. The high value attached to potagurt is mainly linked to the health, nutritional, food safety, and quality attributes of the product, as well as perception. Consumers’ socioeconomic factors such as income, educational, and awareness levels also play a significant role in explaining their choice of the product. The practical implication is that the development and promotion of potagurt could stimulate sustainable economic development through better consumer health and improvement in the livelihoods of many players in the sweet potato value chain, especially the producers of potagurt and sweet potato farmers. We conclude that the promotion of the innovative food product could contribute to sustainable production and consumption of sweet potatoes.

Willingness to Pay for Eco-Labeled Food in Forests: Integrated View from South Korea

Due to global interest in the improvement of national income and quality of life, eco-labeled food (ELF) for sustainable consumption and personal healthcare has been increasing. This study aims to contribute to two research streams by examining the quality of ELF in forests (ELFF). First, this study intends to estimate the willingness to pay (WTP) of ELFF producers for the certification verified by the government-supported institution and investigate the difference in certification costs between the actual certificating authority and ELFF producers. Second, this study aims to figure out the perception mechanism of how consumers who would like to purchase ELFFs recognize the effect of enhanced certification. These efforts may contribute to the research on how to raise interest in the production of ELF-related products and sustainable consumption. To achieve the purpose of this study, we adopted contingent valuation methods (CVM) to measure WTPs using interview-based surveys with 40 ELF producers and ordinary least squares (OLS) regression to examine the effect of certification with 112 consumers who experienced ELF consumption. Results of this study provide theoretical and practical implications by looking at the relationship between ELF certification and sustainable consumption from a stakeholder's perspective. This study intends to expand the research field of ELF from agriculture to forestry products. It provides a basis for providing practical implications for policymakers who propose sustainable consumption.

Valuation of Access to Irrigation Water in Rural Ethiopia: Application of Choice Experiment and Contingent Valuation Methods

Smallholder farmers in Africa rely heavily on rainfed agriculture. Those who have access to irrigation often receive it at no charge, but quantity, frequency and reliability may be limited without adequate revenue for maintenance and operation. Moreover, the absence of fees means that there are no pricing signals to encourage conservation of this scarce resource. In a situation where farmers do not pay for irrigation water use, this study investigates demand-side issues by eliciting farmers’ willingness to pay (WTP) for access to irrigation water. This study employs choice experiment (CE) and contingent valuation methods (CVMs) to value access to irrigation water, taking Ethiopia as a case in point. Unlike previous studies, this study covers current users and non-users of irrigation water using the same baseline (status quo) conditions — no irrigation — and compares the preferences of these two groups. The four attributes identified in the CE are number of crop seasons, frequency of watering in a season, crop type, and payment level. Results show that marginal WTP was Birr 17.7 (US$ 0.98), 261.8 (US$ 14.54) and 87.6 (US$ 4.87) for number of crop seasons, watering frequency in a season and crop type, respectively. Our estimates of farmers’ WTP for operation and maintenance of irrigation schemes per hectare of irrigated land range from Birr 738 (US$ 41.00) (from the CE) to Birr 784 (US$ 43.56) (from the CVM). We also find that, compared to current users, non-users were willing to pay more in general, as well as for the number of crop seasons specifically.

Analysis of the Community’s Willingness to Pay (WTP) for the Protection of Mangroves in Kuala Langsa, Aceh

Mangrove, as one of the most unique ecosystems, is a great natural resource potential with high productivity and biodiversity able to adapt to harsh areas between the sea and coast. Its destruction rate is very mild as it is estimated to 1% each year (Ong et al., 1991) and 0.7-3% per year (Pedleton et al., 2012). The destruction of mangrove is usually related with human population density (Alongi, 2002). Widespread mangrove destruction affects the loss of biodiversity and other resources and the functioning of the ecosystem. The huge potential of mangrove must be preserved by managing, maintaining and providing costs to protect and improve ecosystems. This study aims to measure Kuala Langsa community members’ willingness to pay for the preservation and repairationof degrading mangrove. To achieve this goal, Contingent valuation methods was used in this study. Of the 131 respondents involved in this study, 112 or 85.496% are willing to pay for the preservation of mangrove. While those unwilling to pay account for 19 or 4.504% . WTP with the households 669 earned by is Rp 18,821,512,200/month or Rp 225,858,146,400/year.

Integrating stated preference methods for property valuations in housing markets

Purpose The study aims to propose an appraisal procedure based on the preferences stated by a sample of potential consumers and producers which makes it possible to obtain the hypothetical demand and supply curves and to estimate the most likely market value and transaction quantities for housing markets with unrevealed prices. Design/methodology/approach The procedure is divided into two steps: the first is aimed at selecting the alternatives that are most likely to meet the market’s preference by applying discrete choice (DC) analysis; the second makes it possible to estimate the potential demand and supply curves for the preferable alternatives singled out through DC analysis by using contingent valuation methods. Findings The results obtained considering only the hypothetical demand or the hypothetical supply differ by an average of 10 per cent from the actual sale price. Conversely, the values detected as the intersection of the hypothetical demand curve and the hypothetical supply curve, fall into variation margins that can be considered fully acceptable in real estate appraisal Originality/value As opposed to the applications performed in international real estate operations where reference is made solely to the potential demand estimate, the described procedure estimates the transaction value as the intersection between the hypothetical demand and supply curves, for the purposes of keeping account of the conditions that generally occur in the real market. Furthermore, it is possible to detect the incidence of the characteristics in market price formation, and to identify the market share of possible alternative assets and estimate the optimal quantity to be produced.

On the economic nature of consumers’ willingness to pay for a selective and sustainable fishery: A comparative empirical study

The EU Landing Obligation (LO) bans discards to incentivize a more selective and sustainable fishery. This regulation may induce a cost to the fishing industry that could be transferred to final fish consumers. We aim to assess the consumers’ reservation price for a sustainable and selective fishery. The methodology follows two steps: We first assess the value of the reservation price (willingness to pay, WTP) for a sustainable and selective fishery by using contingent valuation methods from a comparative perspective in Spain and Italy. We then attempt to empirically assess the components of WTP by using an original model specification that, unlike those presented in the literature, exogenizes socio-economic variables and uses ideological indicators to explain WTP in a two-line simultaneous model estimated by instrumental variable regression. The results show a positive, though low, WTP across the two samples, and very different impacts of estimated coefficients on the WTP for the two samples. A preliminary interpretation of this divergence highlights that Italian consumers consider LO-incentivized sustainable fishery a pure public good linked to issues of legality, and Spanish consumers consider it an impure public good linked to environmental issues. These differences may indicate how strongly the institutions and the policies in each region are perceived by a different human capital structure. They may also indicate that the problem, the perceptions of it and the solutions to it differ according to the context.