Individual preferences for mineral resource development: A cross-cultural case study of urban dwellers

Abstract

This study examined whether individual preferences for mining projects vary with cultural, regulatory, socio-economic, and historical context. The same discrete choice experiment was conducted in the United States and China to: (1) identify differences in the relative importance of various mining project attributes in predicting individual preferences between urban dwellers in the United States and China; (2) evaluate differences in the significance of demographic factors in explaining individual preferences in the United States and China; and (3) evaluate differences in the economic value individuals place on non-economic benefits/impacts of mineral development. The results show that the relative importance of 14 out of the 16 mining project attributes examined, in explaining individual preferences, differ between the two countries. We posit that these differences are due to the different socio-economic and cultural contexts. Also, the work shows that how demographics explain individual preferences differ between the United States and China (e.g., gender and household income have opposite effects on preferences within the two populations). The work also shows that American and Chinese respondents’ willingness-to-pay for the negative impacts of mineral development differs. These results show that context is important when assessing individual preferences.