Exploring Heterogeneous Preference for Farmland Non-market Values in Wuhan, Central China

Xin Yang,Michael Burton,Anlu Zhang,Yinying Cai

doi:10.3390/su8010012

Xin Yang, Michael Burton + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/su8010012

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Abstract

The research question for this study is estimating the public’s willingness to pay for the public goods generated by farmland, and exploring respondents’ heterogeneity in their preferences for these goods. The approach used is a choice experiment, using respondents from the city of Wuhan, China. Six attributes representing public good values (farmland area, farmland fertility, water quality, air quality, species richness, and recreational value) and the level of private cost are selected in this study. A heteroscedastic conditional logit model is used to analyze the respondents’ willingness to pay for improvements in these public goods, accounting for systematic heterogeneity in public preferences. The results show the public are willing to pay to preserve the non-market values generated by farmland, with air quality valued most and followed by farmland fertility, farmland area, water quality, species richness and recreational value. In addition, respondents with higher income, and who are aware of the non-market values of farmland and have a willingness to pay for it have a smaller error variance, i.e., these respondents are more consistent in their choices. This study may help decision makers improving more differentiated farmland protection policies.

Highlights

In China, as in other countries, the management of farmland may generate public goods, i.e., water quality, air quality and species richness and recreational activity
Each respondent is presented with the following questions: “Do you hold the opinion that the farmland area is important in your life” and “Have you realized that the farmland area is decreasing fast?” and asked to answer on a 5-point Likert-scale their degree of agreement
This study contributes to the literature on estimation of the non-market value of farmland using choice modeling, and is one of the few farmland non-market valuation studies that have been undertaken to account for heterogeneity in the error variance using a heteroscedastic conditional logit model in China

Summary

Introduction

In China, as in other countries, the management of farmland may generate public goods, i.e., water quality, air quality and species richness and recreational activity. We want to explore how citizens value these public goods, the extent to which there is heterogeneity in respondents’ preferences for non-market values of farmland, and whether that heterogeneity can be explained by observable characteristics. We explore observable heterogeneity based on socio-demographic variables reported in the survey, and heterogeneity in the error variance using a heteroscedastic conditional logit model. It reflects a behavioral interest in factors influencing the variance of the latent variables in the model [6,7], and shows the heterogeneity in respondents’ preferences for certain goods [8]

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