Estimates Of Willingness Research Articles

Indirect estimation of willingness to pay for energy technology adoption

Adopting energy-efficient and clean technologies is key to climate change mitigation and meeting long-term sustainability goals because they significantly reduce energy consumption and related carbon emissions. Understanding existing barriers and drivers for the adoption of these energy-efficient and clean technologies will be crucial to meeting ambitious national energy and emissions targets, and the customers’ willingness to pay (WTP) is a key factor in understanding the potential for scaling-up adoption. However, in practice, commonly-used WTP estimation methods such as survey or purchase experiments are not always practical or feasible due to budget, time, labor or data constraints. This study proposes a new constrained optimization-based indirect estimation of WTP for energy technology adoption using customers’ implicit life-cycle cost-benefit analysis and market data. The empirical probability distribution of WTP is estimated using the Monte Carlo methods. This new indirect estimation method provides a deeper understanding of the barriers and customers’ willingness to adopt high efficiency and clean energy technologies, and informs the development of supporting policies and programs needed to accelerate market adoption.

Noah’s Ark in a Warming World: Climate Change, Biodiversity Loss, and Public Adaptation Costs in the United States

Climate change poses a growing threat to biodiversity, but the welfare consequences of these changes are not well understood. Here we analyze data on the US Endangered Species Act and project increases in species listing and spending due to climate change. We show that higher endangerment is strongly associated with the probability of listing but also find a large bias toward vertebrate species for both listing and spending. Unmitigated warming would cause the listing of an additional 690 species and committed spending of $21 billion by 2100. Several thousand more species would be critically imperiled by climate change but remain unlisted. Finally, we compare ESA spending with estimates of willingness to pay for conservation of 36 listed species. Aggregate WTP is larger than ESA spending for the vast majority of species even using conservative assumptions and typically one to two orders of magnitude larger than direct ESA spending using less restrictive assumptions.

Preferences for healthcare services among hypertension patients in China: a discrete choice experiment

ObjectivesOur study aimed to support evidence-informed policy-making on patient-centred care by investigating preferences for healthcare services among hypertension patients.DesignWe identified six attributes of healthcare services for a discrete choice experiment...

The Economic Valuation of Urban Green Parks: The Application of Contingent Valuation Method

This study analyzes the total economic values of urban green areas conserved at Bahir Dar city. Contingent Valuation Method (CVM) was employed to obtain estimates of Willingness to Pay (WTP) for improving the endangered and overlooked environmental assets, urban green areas to sustain them & generate benefits to current and future generations. In this contingent valuation survey, the researcher adopted a dichotomous choice with follow-up debriefing questions and scenario description, as well as open-ended follow-up question to model individual’s WTP. The study used purposive sampling method to select the parks under study followed by simple random sampling to select 200 sample respondents. The study result revealed that almost all the respondents have a positive attitude towards the conservation of urban green parks but uncertain about the sustainability of the area’s that leads them not to take care of the areas. Besides, the study results show that the mean monthly WTP of the individuals was between 0.047 -0.16 USD and the Total Economic Value (TEV) of improved urban green areas per month was about 4656.75- 15,704.14 USD calculated from the double bounded elicitation format and open ended elicitation format respectively. Keywords: Bahir Dar , CVM, Logistic Regression, Urban Green Parks, WTP. DOI: 10.7176/JESD/12-23-01 Publication date: December 31 st 2021

Willingness of children and adolescents to have a COVID-19 vaccination: Results of a large whole schools survey in England

BackgroundVaccine hesitancy has affected COVID-19 adult vaccination programs in many countries. Data on hesitancy amongst child and adolescent populations is largely confined to parent opinion. We investigated the characteristics of vaccine hesitant children and adolescents using results from a large, school-based self-report survey of the willingness to have a COVID-19 vaccination in students aged 9 –18 years in England.MethodsData from the OxWell Student Survey on mental health, life experiences and behaviours were used, collected from four counties across England. Local authority partners recruited schools. The vaccine hesitancy question gave six response options and were clustered to inform delivery: eager and willing were categorised as vaccination ‘opt-in’, don't know and not bothered categorised as ‘undecided’, and unwilling and anti-vaccination categorised as ‘opt-out’. We conducted a multinomial regression to determine associations between vaccine hesitancy and sociodemographic, health behaviour and social connection variables.Findings27,910 students from 180 schools answered the vaccine hesitancy question between 14th May and 21st July 2021, of whom 13984 (50.1%) would opt-in to take a vaccination, 10322 (37.0%) were undecided, and 3604 (12.9%) would opt-out. A lower percentage of younger students reported that they would opt-in to vaccination, for example, 35.7% of 9-year-olds and 51.3% of 13-year-olds compared to 77.8% of 17-year-olds would opt-in to take a vaccination. Students who were ‘opt-out’ or ‘undecided’ (a combined ‘vaccine hesitant’ group) were more likely to come from deprived socioeconomic contexts with higher rates of home rental versus home ownership and their school locations were more likely to be in areas of greater deprivation. They were more likely to smoke or vape, spend longer on social media, feel that they did not belong in their school community but had lower levels of anxiety and depression. The vaccine hesitant students- the undecided and opt-out groups- were similar in profile, although the opt-out students had higher reported confirmed or probable previous COVID-19 infection than the opt-in group, whereas those undecided, did not.InterpretationIf government vaccination strategies move towards vaccinating younger school-aged students, efforts to increase vaccination uptake may be necessary. Compared with students who would opt-in, those who were vaccine hesitant had greater indicators of social deprivation and felt a lack of community cohesion by not feeling a sense of belonging at their school. There were indications that those students who would opt-out had higher levels of marginalisation and mistrust. If programmes are rolled out, focus on hesitant younger students will be important, targeting more marginalised and deprived young people with information from trusted sources utilising social media; improving access to vaccination centres with provision both in and outside school; and addressing fears and worries about the effects of the vaccine. The main limitation of this study is that the participant group may not be wholly representative of England or the UK, which may bias population-level estimates of willingness to be vaccinated.FundingThe Westminster Foundation, the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Applied Research Collaboration Oxford and Thames Valley at Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust and the NIHR Oxford Health Biomedical Research Centre.

The value of climate amenities: A comparison of hedonic and discrete choice approaches

Amenities that vary across cities are typically valued using either a hedonic model, in which amenities are capitalized into wages and housing prices, or a discrete model of household location choice. In this paper, we use the 2000 Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS) to value climate amenities using both methods. We compare estimates of marginal willingness to pay (MWTP), allowing preferences for climate amenities to vary by location. We find that mean MWTP for warmer winters is about twice as large using the discrete choice approach as with the hedonic approach; mean MWTP for cooler summers is approximately the same. The two approaches differ, however, in their estimates of MWTP by location. These disparities lead to significant differences in estimates of willingness to pay to avoid the A2 and B1 SRES scenarios in 2020–2050 using the two approaches.

Parametric and non-parametric estimates of willingness to pay for weather index insurance in Malawi

As climate-related shocks on agriculture production intensify, weather index crop insurance has emerged as one potential risk management strategy for farmers. Nevertheless, sustainable uptake of this risk management strategy will largely depend on farmers’ willingness to pay for the associated premiums. This study identifies various socio-economic factors that influence farmers' purchase of index insurance for staple food in rural Malawi. It further establishes an associated willingness to pay per hectare per cropping season. We use a hypothetical rainfall index insurance program to estimate insurance demand. The study highlights several determinants of willingness to pay for an index insurance product. Results suggest that gender, the previous record of climate shocks, extension contact, and access to remittances significantly influence willingness-to-pay for weather index insurance for a staple food crop. Both parametric and non-parametric estimates of willingness-to-pay are in the range of US$5.5 to US$15 per hectare per cropping season. At the infancy stage, government subsidies for insurance premium and linkage of premium payments to Village Savings Groups will be crucial.

Estimating global burden of COVID-19 with disability-adjusted life years and value of statistical life metrics

BackgroundGlobal burden of COVID-19 has not been well studied, disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) and value of statistical life (VSL) metrics were therefore proposed to quantify its impacts on health and economic loss globally.MethodsThe life expectancy, cases, and death numbers of COVID-19 until 30th April 2021 were retrieved from open data to derive the epidemiological profiles and DALYs (including years of life lost (YLL) and years loss due to disability (YLD)) by four periods. The VSL estimates were estimated by using hedonic wage method (HWM) and contingent valuation method (CVM). The estimate of willingness to pay using CVM was based on the meta-regression mixed model. Machine learning method was used for classification.ResultsGlobally, DALYs (in thousands) due to COVID-19 was tallied as 31,930 from Period I to IV. YLL dominated over YLD. The estimates of VSL were US$591 billion and US$5135 billion based on HWM and CVM, respectively. The estimate of VSL increased from US$579 billion in Period I to US$2160 billion in Period IV using CVM. The higher the human development index (HDI), the higher the value of DALYs and VSL. However, there exits the disparity even at the same level of HDI. Machine learning analysis categorized eight patterns of global burden of COVID-19 with a large variation from US$0.001 billion to US$691.4 billion.ConclusionGlobal burden of COVID-19 pandemic resulted in substantial health and value of life loss particularly in developed economies. Classifications of such health and economic loss is informative to early preparation of adequate resource to reduce impacts.

Willingness to pay for biodiversity conservation in Dachigam National Park, India

This study attempts to estimate the household’s Willingness to Pay (WTP) for biodiversity conservation in Dachigam National Park, India. The park houses the last viable population of Asiatic Black Bear and the Hangul. To complement our analysis, we propose a robust estimation of willingness to pay through an augmented probit model. The estimates reveal that respondents were willing to pay a significant amount of money in the form of increasing water rates for improvement in the attributes of the park. Mean Willingness to Pay for the improvements in the park’s attributes turned out to be Rs 245.57 ($ 3.32) per year in the form of increasing water rates. The outcome of this research work has a great potential to contribute to the existing scant economic literature in this area of environmental economics. It provides a quantitative analysis that will facilitate the concerned authorities for better planning and management of the park attributes. Moreover, results may be used as an input for comprehensive and rigorous policy-oriented research work in the area.

Willingness to Vaccinate against COVID-19 Might be Systematically Underestimated

Estimations of the willingness to vaccinate against COVID-19 are important to plan the vaccination process and also to coordinate efforts to reach herd immunity. Aims and Objectives: In this article, we test standard measures of vaccination willingness against systematic biases caused by misunderstandings and lack of information. We use a survey among 730 persons living in Germany at the start of the official vaccination program. We elicit willingness to vaccinate first in a standard form, and then again after clarifications and after providing additional information. We find that a substantial number of persons who state initially that they do not want to get vaccinated does so simply because they want to let people with higher risk be vaccinated first. Appropriately rephrasing the question increases the willingness by around 5 percentage points. Information about herd immunity increases the willingness by additional 7%, confirming previous findings. Standard survey-based estimates of vaccination willingness might underestimate the real number of persons who want to get a vaccination. This number can be increased even further by simply providing appropriate information on herd immunity. In our sample this increased vaccination willingness from 71.4% to 83.6%.

A Systematic Review of the Cost-Utility of Spinal Cord Stimulation for Persistent Low Back Pain in Patients With Failed Back Surgery Syndrome.

Study Design:Systematic Review.Objectives:To review the literature surrounding the cost-effectiveness of implanting spinal cord stimulators for failed back surgery syndrome.Methods:A systematic review was conducted inclusive of all publications in the Medline database and Cochrane CENTRAL trials register within the last 10 years (English language only) assessing the cost-effectiveness of Spinal Cord Stimulator device implantation (SCSdi) in patients with previous lumbar fusion surgery.Results:The majority of reviewed publications that analyzed cost-effectiveness of SCSdi compared to conventional medical management (CMM) or re-operation in patients with failed back surgery syndrome (FBSS) showed an overall increase in direct medical costs; these increased costs were found in nearly all cases to be offset by significant improvements in patient quality of life. The cost required to achieve these increases in quality adjusted life years (QALY) falls well below $25 000/QALY, a conservative estimate of willingness to pay.Conclusions:The data suggest that SCSdi provides both superior outcomes and a lower incremental cost: effectiveness ratio (ICER) compared to CMM and/or re-operation in patients with FBSS. These findings are in spite of the fact that the majority of studies reviewed were agnostic to the type of device or innervation utilized in SCSdi. Newer devices utilizing burst or higher frequency stimulation have demonstrated their superiority over traditional SCSdi via randomized clinical trials and may provide lower ICERs.

The Damages and Distortions from Discrimination in the Rental Housing Market

By constraining an individual’s choice during a search, housing discrimination distorts sorting decisions away from true preferences and results in a ceteris paribus reduction in welfare. This study combines a large-scale field experiment with a residential sorting model to derive utility-theoretic measures of renter welfare loss associated with the constraints imposed by discrimination in the rental housing market. Results from experiments conducted in five cities show that key neighborhood amenities are associated with higher levels of discrimination. Results from the structural model indicate that discrimination imposes costs equivalent to 4.7% of annual income for renters of color, and that search behavior results in greater welfare costs for African Americans as their incomes rise. Renters of color must make substantial investments in additional search to mitigate the costs of these constraints. We find that a naive model ignoring discrimination constraints yields significantly biased estimates of willingness to pay.

The Welfare Impacts of Large Urban Noise Reductions: Implications from Household Sorting in Vienna

We develop a pure characteristics equilibrium sorting model to recover estimates of willingness to pay (WTP) for both marginal and non-marginal changes in urban noise exposure. Using data from Vienna, Austria, we provide several new insights in the urban noise literature. First, we demonstrate the importance of considering general equilibrium feedback effects following large changes in noise levels. We document impacts to residents in policy targeted and non-targeted locations due to changes in both noise and equilibrium prices. Second, we confirm evidence of the importance of noise thresholds with significant and increasing negative impacts associated with increases in area covered by high levels of noise at 50 dB and 60 dB thresholds, respectively. Finally, we use an equilibrium sorting model to predict new price patterns and welfare implications following hypothetical policy changes that alter the distribution and intensity of nighttime noise in Vienna and are relevant to other urban settings seeking to reduce noise levels. Our work additionally provides a roadmap for conducting similar equilibrium sorting work in data limited settings outside the U.S.

Drivers of participant’s choices of monthly mobility bundles: Key behavioural findings from the Sydney Mobility as a Service (MaaS) trial

Australia’s first Mobility as a Service (MaaS) trial commenced in April 2019 in Sydney. A key objective of the trial is to assess interest in various MaaS subscription plans through bundling public transport, ride share, car share and car rental with varying financial discounts and monthly subscription fees, in contrast to pay as you go (PAYG). This paper develops a mixed logit choice model to investigate the participants’ choice between PAYG and four subscription plans (or bundles) that were incrementally introduced over a 5-month period. This is the first paper to model real uptake as previous studies are based on stated preference data. New evidence is provided on what role financial savings, estimated using tracking technology embedded in the MaaS app, play in the context of modal offerings and a monthly subscription fee as well as socio-demographic and seasonal effects. Behaviourally, we present evidence on the extent of take up of each bundle relative to PAYG as well as elasticity estimates for all exogenous influences and estimates of willingness to pay and scenario assessment, particularly for how much someone would have to save over a previous month’s cost outlay to be willing to subscribe to a particular bundle in a subsequent month. Within the context of the trial, the findings suggest a substantial market for mobility bundles but PAYG is an option preferred by many, particularly those with varying travel needs. We are, however, not in a position yet to conclude that these choices necessarily align with a contribution to societal sustainability goals.

Estimation of Willingness to Pay for Development and Preservation of Liwa Botanical Garden Indonesia

This research aims to find out how big the willingness of Kebun Raya Liwa visitors to pay for the ticket and to find the factors influencing that willingness. Visitors of Kebun Raya Liwa who are 20 years old or above are the subject of this report. This study uses primary data and uses a purposive sampling method to interview the subject with 304 people. The instrument used for the analysis is the Contingent Valuation Method (CVM). Each person is Rp 6.500 according to the average results of willingness to pay using Dichotomous Choice. Results of the analysis show that variables in age, education and income positively affect the willingness to pay. The perception of the visitors negatively affects the willingness to pay. While distance and frequency of visits do not affect the payment will.

Why do We Know So Much and Yet So Little? A Scoping Review of Willingness to Pay for Human Excreta Derived Material in Agriculture

Challenges associated with rapid population growth, urbanization, and nutrient mining have seen increased global research and development towards ‘waste to wealth’ initiatives, circular economy models, and cradle-to-cradle waste management principles. Closing the nutrient loop through safe recovery and valorization of human excreta for agricultural use may provide a sustainable method of waste management and sanitation. Understanding the market demand is essential for developing viable waste management and sanitation provision business models. The pathways and processes for the safe recovery of nutrients from human excreta are well-documented. However, only anecdotal evidence is available on the willingness to pay for human excreta-derived material in agriculture. This review closes this gap by identifying and synthesizing published evidence on farmers’ willingness to pay for human excreta-derived material for agricultural use. The Scopus and Web of Science search engines were used to search for the literature. The search results were screened, and the data were extracted, charted, and synthesized using the DistillerSR web-based application. The findings show that understanding willingness to pay for human excreta-derived material is still a nascent and emerging research area. Gender, education, and experience are common factors that influence the farmers’ willingness to pay. The findings show that pelletization, fortification, labeling, packaging, and certification are essential attributes in product development. The wide-scale commercialization can be achieved through incorporation of context-specific socioeconomic, religious and cultural influences on the estimation of willingness to pay. Promoting flexible legislation procedures, harmonization of regional legislations, and creating incentives for sustainable waste recovery and reuse may also promote the commercialization of circular nutrient economy initiatives. More empirical studies are required to validate willingness to pay estimates, especially using the best practice for conducting choice experiments.

CVM을 활용한 남북· 대륙철도 연결에 따른 지불의사액 산정 연구

CVM을 활용한 남북· 대륙철도 연결에 따른 지불의사액 산정 연구

Economic consequence analysis of electric power infrastructure disruptions: General equilibrium approaches

Abstract We develop a stylized two-sector analytical general equilibrium model that elucidates mechanisms of adjustment to widespread, long-duration electric power disruptions. Algebraic solutions illustrate the relative importance of resilience through producer and consumer input substitutability and mitigation investment in backup infrastructure capacity in moderating the economy-wide costs of outages. Simulations of the impacts of a two-week power outage on California's Bay Area economy using both the analytical model and a computational general equilibrium model yield welfare losses that are substantially smaller than stated-preference estimates of willingness to pay. Results highlight the role of resilience in moderating consequences of energy supply shocks.

Attribute non-attendance in wine choice: Contrasts between stated and inferred approaches

A growing number of studies employing discrete choice experiments provides evidence that respondents ignore some attributes while making a choice, thus violating preference structure assumptions. Using a discrete choice experiment, we explore consumers preferences for wine. A greater understanding of the choice process accounting for attribute non-attendance may contribute to the definition of more accurate policy recommendations and market strategies. The result is checked in three different databases. This paper adds to the literature by contrasting the stated and inferred modelling approaches accounting for attribute non-attendance. The main contributions of the paper are (1) to compare the respondents stated non-attendance with probabilities inferred by the model, and explores the concordance between both methods; (2) examine the differences in model fit measures and willingness to pay values, adding as reference a standard model that assumes all attributes are attended. Results provide evidence of the presence of attribute non-attendance in all markets, the inferred approach reaching the best model fit. Few respondents behave in a fully compensatory manner, but a high proportion considers the price attribute, which is an important tip for marketers and wine firms. In addition, it is a key factor for the robust estimation of willingness to pay by attribute. Moreover, respondents overstate their levels of attendance and we found little concordance between both methods, in all datasets. The willingness to pay measures are lower in the inferred approach, while the estimates from the mixed logit model are found to be more congruent with those from the standard model.

Effects of Policy Consequentiality and Payment Vehicle on Contingent Valuation: Structural Estimates on Preference Misrepresentation

Respondents’ belief on policy and payment consequentiality in a stated preference survey can influence the estimation of willingness to pay (WTP). This study introduces a new approach to calibrate WTP estimates using perceived policy consequentiality that enables detailed analyses of the factors behind preference misrepresentations. We examine the effects of perceived policy consequentiality under a single-bounded referendum with a tax or a donation payment vehicle on an individual’s probability of revealing truthful preference and corresponding WTP estimates based on a proposed river restoration project in Florida. We structurally estimate individuals’ misrepresentation probabilities under different levels of perceived policy consequentiality. Our results imply that a higher perceived policy consequentiality reduces preference misrepresentation. The tax payment vehicle is generally preferred to the voluntary donation payment vehicle as the tax reduces free-riding incentives when true WTP is higher than the elicited amounts. We also find that tax has a relative advantage of reducing free-riding incentives while voluntary donation has a relative advantage of reducing the hypothetical bias. Using the predicted probability of truthful representation to calibrate WTP leads to higher levels of WTP estimates and these estimates converge under the tax and donation payment vehicles.