Individual Willingness To Pay Research Articles

People’s perceptions and willingness to pay to protect saproxylic species in Alpine production forests

Saproxylic species are the species dependent on the presence of standing dead trees and deadwood in forests. European forests managed for timber production are generally characterized by a lack of tree microhabitats and deadwood that could compromise the survival of saproxylic species. Many studies investigated the positive impacts of integrated forest management strategies (e.g., the realization of veteran tree islands) from an ecological perspective. At the same time, there is a gap concerning the socio-economic perspective. To partially fill this gap, this study investigates people's perceptions and willingness to pay (WTP) to increase the number of specimens of three saproxylic species (Black woodpecker, Western barbastelle, and European stag beetle) in Alpine production forests. An online survey was administered to a sample of 306 Italian people by posting the link on some social network pages. A Discrete Choice Experiment was implemented to estimate people's perceptions and WTP to increase the number of the three saproxylic species. The results show that the average individual WTP for Black woodpecker is €2.80 for a medium and €3.79 for a high level of specimens. At the same time, for the other two species, non-significant (Western barbastelle) or significant but negative (European stag beetle) preferences were found. This study pointed out that positive emotions and perceptions towards the species are key variables to understanding the individual WTP. This study's results may support Alpine forest managers in defining conservation strategies for saproxylic species based on citizens’ WTP.

Public willingness to pay for farmland non‐point source pollution governance toward sustainable development: A choice experiment in Gansu, China

AbstractClarifying public willingness to pay (WTP) for farmland non‐point source pollution (FNSP) governance helps to establish an ecological compensation mechanism with public participation. This will reduce China's agricultural pollution and its environmental and food safety consequences while promoting sustainable development. Nevertheless, research has yet to reveal the public WTP within China's FNSP governance policy framework. To this end, a “2030‐oriented FNSP governance program” choice experiment with specific FNSP governance measures (fertilizer reduction, pesticide reduction, straw resource utilization, and mulch film recycling) was conducted in Gansu Province to reveal the public WTP for FNSP governance and its key influencing factors. Results from mixed logit models show that urban residents' marginal WTP (MWTP) for improving the FNSP status quo and different measures for fertilizer reduction, pesticide reduction, straw resource utilization, and mulch film recycling is ¥151.62, ¥1.33, ¥7.3, ¥4.85, and ¥3.16 annually, respectively, indicating the highest preference for reducing pesticides because of food safety problems. Meanwhile, the average individual WTP for optimal FNSP governance schemes is ¥513.02 annually, accounting for only 3.86‰ of annual household income; the regional aggregate social welfare of optimal FNSP governance is as high as ¥2038.23 million, accounting for 2.81% of GDP in 2020. This means that FNSP governance can bring substantial social welfare with a low household economic burden. In addition, the perception that food safety has improved in the past 5 years or an awareness of food safety incidents can enhance the willingness of urban residents to change the status quo of FNSP: the more serious the respondents perceive food safety problems to be, the stronger the above effects, indicating the critical impact of food safety factors on the public's WTP for FNSP governance. The study's findings highlight the potential to find socially acceptable ways to promote FNSP governance as well as provide insight into the relevant policymaking process from the standpoint of public participation and food safety.

Natural area visitors’ willingness to pay for amphibian conservation in a global biodiversity hotspot

Transfer of harmful pathogens from imported pet animals to natural populations of wildlife is a new challenge in protected area management. Understanding visitors’ preferences for, and value they place on, protecting biodiversity from such disturbances is important in developing effective management interventions. By conducting a visitor survey at two natural areas in the Southern Appalachian region of the United States, a global hotspot of amphibian biodiversity, this study examined natural area visitors’ willingness to pay (WTP) to conserve wild amphibian populations under two different assumptions for the distribution of WTP – normal and log-transformed. Results from the retained model assuming a normal distribution for WTP showed that visitors were willing to pay US$10.55 (95% CI US$9.61—US$11.50) per visit in donation to ensure the persistence of healthy amphibian populations. Determinants of individual WTP under both model specifications included the perceived threat to amphibians from pathogen transmission in natural areas they visit, their self-assessed familiarity with general knowledge about amphibians, the level of importance they placed on the benefits to humans from amphibian biodiversity, and annual household income. These findings are useful in understanding the economic value of amphibian diversity to natural area visitors, and in assessing the viability of a visitor-supported mechanism to fund projects mitigating anthropogenic threats to amphibian biodiversity.

Valuation of Environmental Services City Park 1 BSD Using the Travel Cost Method (TCM) and Willingness To Pay (WTP)

BSD City Park 1 has quite complete functions, including ecological, social, and aesthetics, as well as is also a city landmark and a cheap and healthy tourist attraction for residents, including visitors from outside BSD City. The study aimed to find the factors that influence the number of public visits to City Parks and to determine the value of environmental services from City Park 1 BSD through a revealed preference approach using the Individual Travel Cost Method (ITCM) and Willingness To Pay (WTP). Economic valuation through revealed preference using the Travel Cost Method (TCM) calculation, the individual Consumer Surplus value is IDR 55,664/visit with an average stay of 4.8 personal holidays per year. If it is estimated that there are 104,150 visits/year, the Economic Value of City Park 1 BSD is estimated at IDR 5,797,422,757/year. The Willingness to Pay (stated preference) analysis results for additional facilities include the average individual WTP for other sports facilities of IDR 7,619.00; The average particular WTP for adding the number of trash cans is Rp.7,619.00; The average individual WTP increases the number of toilets by IDR 15,000.00.

Effects of information provision on willingness to pay for conservation of alpine plants in Japan

Information provision is essential for obtaining the cooperation of the general public for the conservation of unfamiliar ecosystems towards a sustainable (e.g. carbon-neutral and nature-positive) society. The purpose of this study is to identify effective ways of raising public awareness for ecosystem conservation. We explored the interaction between the manner of information provision (i.e. the medium through which and how much information is provided) and the personal attributes (e.g. environmental attitude) of the recipients on their willingness to pay (WTP) for conservation using Japanese alpine plants as the subject. Discrete choice experiments using an online survey were conducted with public citizens aged 20–69 years across Japan, and data from 8457 respondents were analysed. The data analysis was performed in two steps: 1) estimating individual WTP and 2) exploring factors affecting WTP. The results demonstrated that individual WTP was 135,798 ± 82,840 (mean ± standard deviation) JPY per person for a lifetime. The WTP increased when information was provided in the form of short texts and graphics for those proactive about nature conservation, but increased more when video information was provided to those reactive about nature conservation. The study shows that ecosystem conservation groups need to adapt the amount and format of information for target audiences (e.g. Generation Z youth, who are more sustainability-oriented and prefer to accomplish more in less time).

The value of a QALY towards the end of life and its determinants: Experimental evidence

ObjectivesIndividual and societal willingness to pay (WTP) for end-of-life medical interventions continue to be subject to considerable uncertainty. This study aims at deriving both types of WTP estimates for an extension of survival time and an improvement of quality of life amounting to a QALY. MethodsA discrete choice experiment (DCE) involving a hypothetical novel drug for the treatment of terminal cancer involving 1529 Swiss residents was performed in 2014. In its individual setting, respondents choose between the status quo and a hypothetical drug with varying characteristics and out-of-pocket payments, adopting the perspective of a terminal cancer patient. In the societal setting, participants are asked to choose between the status quo and a social health insurance contract with and without coverage of the novel drug and a varying insurance contribution. ResultsIn the individual setting, respondents put a higher value on their quality of life than on their survival time whereas in the societal setting, they put a higher value on extra survival time. The combination of the two extensions results in a mean individual WTP per QALY of CHF 96,150 (1 CHF = 1 USD as of 2014). Mean societal WTP for a QALY even amounts to CHF 213,500 in favor of an adult patient, CHF 255,600 for a child, and CHF 153,600 for a person aged over 70 years, respectively. While estimated societal values consistently exceed their individual counterparts, they vary considerably with respondents’ socioeconomic characteristics in both settings. ConclusionsThis research finds that individual WTP for an extension of survival time to one year is dominated by WTP for health-related quality of life whereas for societal WTP, it is the other way round. Both individual and societal WTP values exhibit a great deal of heterogeneity, with the latter depending on the type of beneficiary.

Willingness to pay for reduced travel time: Case study of Mumbai - Ahmedabad High Speed Railway

India is constructing its first High Speed Railway (HSR) corridor between Mumbai and Ahmedabad, which is expected to reduce inter-city travel times significantly. However, the affordability of these reductions in travel time is still questionable for a developing country like India. This study analyses the existing conventional train travellers’ Willingness to Pay (WTP) for reduced travel time due to HSR. A questionnaire-based combined RP-SP survey was conducted in Mumbai to capture respondents’ travel details, socioeconomic status and Stated Preference choices. The modified open-ended contingent valuation method and binary logistic regression modelling methods were used for data collection and modelling, respectively. Differential Utility Weighted Mean WTP was calculated for multiple socioeconomic cohorts. It was found that travellers are willing to pay an average INR 300 (as on March 2020) over and above their current travel cost for every hour of travel time saving. The ideal fare range that travellers are willing to pay is between INR 3.25/km to INR 5.25/km. Low-income travellers, occasional travellers, those travelling in a group, and those on social trips had the lowest WTP values in their cohorts. On the contrary, regular business travellers with high incomes had the highest WTP. Analysis showed that the WTP of individuals decreases with the increasing no. of co-passengers and with the increasing comfort of competing modes. The future HSR in India needs a group ticket discount of 10% and an average 25% subsidy on monthly passes to make HSR more attractive for commuters and those travelling with families. This research would help draft the HSR operational policies for subsidies, stronger inter-modal competition, loss minimisation for conventional trains and ridership forecasts.

Patients' preferences in dental care: A discrete-choice experiment and an analysis of willingness-to-pay.

Dental diseases are a major problem worldwide. Costs are a burden on healthcare systems and patients. Missed treatments can have health and financial consequences. Compared to other health services, dental treatments are only covered in parts by statutory health insurance (SHI). Using the example of dental crowns for a cost-intensive treatment, our study aims to investigate whether (1) certain treatment attributes determine patients' treatment choice, and (2) out-of-pocket payments represent a barrier to access dental care. We conducted a discrete-choice-experiment by mailing questionnaires to 10,752 people in Germany. In presented scenarios the participants could choose between treatment options (A, B, or none) composed of treatment attribute levels (e.g., color of teeth) for posterior (PT) and anterior teeth (AT). Considering interaction effects, we used a D-efficient fractional factorial design. Choice analysis was performed using different models. Furthermore, we analyzed willingness-to-pay (WTP), preference of choosing no and SHI standard care treatment, and influence of socioeconomic characteristics on individual WTP. Out of n = 762 returned questionnaires (response rate of r = 7.1), n = 380 were included in the analysis. Most of the participants are in age group "50 to 59 years" (n = 103, 27.1%) and female (n = 249, 65.5%). The participants' benefit allocations varied across treatment attributes. Aesthetics and durability of dental crowns play most important roles in decision-making. WTP regarding natural color teeth is higher than standard SHI out-of-pocket payment. Estimations for AT dominate. For both tooth areas, "no treatment" was a frequent choice (PT: 25.7%, AT: 37.2%). Especially for AT, treatment beyond SHI standard care was often chosen (49.8%, PT: 31.3%). Age, gender, and incentive measures (bonus booklet) influenced WTP per participant. This study provides important insights into patient preferences for dental crown treatment in Germany. For our participants, aesthetic for AT and PT as well as out-of-pocket payments for PT play an important role in decision-making. Overall, they are willing to pay more than the current out-of-pockt payments for what they consider to be better crown treatments. Findings may be valuable for policy makers in developing measures that better match patient preferences.

The mean willingness-to-pay for smoking cessation treatment in Malaysia

This research aims to estimate the mean willingness-to-pay (WTP) for smoking cessation treatment among smokers in Malaysia. We analysed individual smoker's WTP based on questionnaires distributed to current smokers above 18 years of age. The mean WTP was measured using the contingent valuation method incorporating double-bounded questions and logistic regression analysis. The mean WTP (weekly) for the three proposed therapies, namely: nicotine patches, bupropion and varenicline were RM41.21, RM28.78 and RM35.74, respectively, and these values were 67.03%, 28.05%, and 45.01% lower than the current market prices for the treatments, respectively. Therefore, this study indicates that a subsidy for smoking cessation treatments is necessary and that the awareness of the available smoking cessation treatments could be raised, to increase the quit rate from smoking.

Does location of the households' matters? Identifying the households' willingness to pay and preference heterogeneity in advancement of vulnerable ecosystem services: An approach of choice experiment.

The present research underlines the need to expand far outside bundling or hierarchical providing strategy that often focuses on a specific habitat or ecosystem and creates a location-based strategy that considers how dependency in other parts of the region with ecosystem functions and processes leads to complements and resources' trade-offs. Thus, for assessment of spatial heterogeneity based on willingness to pay (WTP) for upgrading environmental attributes across Heihe River Basin (HRB), a choice experiment survey was carried out in the entire river basin. The HRB is one of the big inland river in the Northwestern region of China and is selected on basis of its geomorphological and geographical significance. A sum of 1679 individuals were interviewed through choice experiment technique from whole river basin consisting of five main cities and 33 adjoining rural areas. The Random Parameter logit model, Krinsky-Robb technique as well as delta method were applied for the evaluation of spatial heterogeneity and estimation of individual specific WTP, respectively. Spatial heterogeneity is verified among sampled individuals' preferences about upgradation of environmental attributes, such as, observed preferences of individuals' and their varying corresponding WTP amounts for per unit's upgradation in agriculture product quality, greenhouse gases reduction, farmland landscape, and biodiversity, which reflects heterogeneous tastes and preferences of the selected individuals. In addition, the assessed outcomes for identifying the impacts of distance decay through random parameter logit model depicted the vital role of distance influence on respondents' WTP for restoring the degraded environmental attributes, such that among 3 ad hoc distance bands, WTP of those sampled individuals who are in proximity of ≤ 10km to HRB is more than the rest of the individuals, i.e., individuals living in the range of ≤ 20km and > 20km. For instance, WTP for agriculture product quality is 119.147 CNY/year in ≤ 10km and is higher than the remainders.

Southeast Brazilian Consumers’ Involvement and Willingness to Pay for Quality Cues in Fresh and Cooked Beef

ABSTRACT This study evaluates consumer Willingness-to-Pay (WTP) according to preferences for quality-cue attributes offered in two different purchase modes: fresh and cooked meat. The questionnaire was applied and answered by 534 Brazilian meat consumers. Three clusters were defined: Group 1- price conscious consumers; Group 2- quality cues conscious consumers; and Group 3- consumers who were neither price nor quality cues conscious. Different levels of consumer involvement are related to different levels of a purchase intention regarding breed and flavor. Using a logit regression model, the probabilities regarding individual choice and WTP were then calculated. Results indicate significant differences (p < .01) between attributes and for both fresh and cooked beef. For fresh meat, the most important quality cue was its bright red color and the least important its marbling. Interestingly, the lowest product price level does not appear to motivate purchase intention. For cooked beef purchase, consumers highly valued tender meat with flavor and aroma. When a consumer evaluates the purchase of fresh meat, WTP starts at a low level, and then increases with the introduction of positive quality-cue attributes. The opposite is true for cooked meat, where WTP starts at a high level and then decreases as negative quality cues are introduced.

Willingness to pay for a hypothetical malaria vaccine inBrazil: a cross-sectional study and the implications.

Aim: Malaria is an infection caused by protozoa of genus Plasmodium, considered theone associated with increasingly large outbreaks. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted with residents in the northern region of Brazilon the willingness to pay (WTP) for a hypothetical vaccine against malaria (effective protection of 80%). Results: Of 616 people interviewed, most interviewees were female (61%) and were employed (97%). The median individual maximum WTP for a hypothetical malaria vaccine was US$11.90 (BRL 50). Conclusion: The northern region of Brazil is one of the largest markets for a malaria vaccine due to its epidemiological relevance. Consequently, economic studies will be important to assist in the assessment of the potential price and value of new vaccines.

Valuation of Local Demand for Improved Air Quality: The Case of the Mae Moh Coal Mine Site in Thailand

While the district of Mae Moh, Thailand has been well known for its atmospheric pollution associated with coal power production, economic assessment of demand for improved air quality has not been conducted to date. This study estimated local residents’ individual and aggregate willingness to pay (WTP) for mitigation of atmospheric pollution in Mae Moh using the contingent valuation method (CVM), and analyzed the factors associated with the individual WTP using the bivariate tobit and double-hurdle regression techniques. Primary data were collected through face-to-face interviews with a stratified sample of 200 residents. The hypothetical scenarios used in the CVM module were 50% and 80% mitigation of atmospheric concentrations of major pollutants. The weighted average WTP was found to be THB 251.3 and 307.9 per annum (USD 8.4 and 10.3) for the 50% and 80% reduction scenarios, respectively. The aggregate WTP for the entire population of Mae Moh was THB 10,008,733 and 12,264,761 per annum (USD 336,294 and 412,096), respectively. Education, occupation type, income, expenses, satisfaction with ambient quality, and perceived sources of pollution had significant associations with the individual WTP. The paper concludes by discussing policy implications for atmospheric pollution management and avenues for future research.

Farmers Willingness to Pay for Participatory Poultry Research in Kwara State, Nigeria: Ex-ante Approach

This study examined farmers’ willingness to pay for participatory poultry research in Kwara State, Nigeria using ex-ante approach. The study utilized primary data collected with the aid of structured questionnaire. A random sampling technique was utilized to select a total number of 102 poultry farmers from Poultry Association of Nigeria (PAN) Kwara State Chapter. Descriptive statistics, Contingent Valuation (CV) techniques and probit regression model were used to achieve the research objectives. The CV results showed that 64.7% of the households were willing to pay. The monthly individual aggregate WTP amount ranged from N2,000 to N6,000, and on average N 2,576 per month, generating aggregate annual values ranging from N12,000.00 to N72,000.00 and on average N30,912.00 (ceteris paribus). Probit regression model demonstrated a significant (p&lt;0.01, p&lt;0.05 or p&lt;0.10) relationship between household size, educational attainment and age of the household head and WTP. The study concluded that majority of the farmers were willing to pay for participatory research. Policy makers and other relevant stakeholders should take advantage of the significant socio-economic factors influencing the decision to participate in poultry research initiatives when formulating policies. This will help improve poultry production in the country. Keywords: participatory poultry research, willingness-to-pay (WTP), probit regression

Willingness to Pay for a Hypothetical COVID-19 Vaccine in the United States: A Contingent Valuation Approach.

Our objective was to estimate the individual willingness to pay (WTP) for a COVID-19 vaccine and evaluate its predictors in the United States. A double-bounded dichotomous choice contingent valuation with open-ended question technique was implemented based on the responses to a national survey administered during the first week of November 2020. The final sample size was 1285. The results showed that individual WTP values increased with income, whether a household member had any pre-existing condition, and perceived threat of the virus. The vaccine efficacy rate and duration of protection were found to be important factors for the respondents. The mean WTP for a vaccine with a 95 percent efficacy rate and 3-year protection (US$318.76) was approximately 35 percent greater than the vaccine with a 50 percent efficacy rate and 1-year protection (US$236.85). The initial aggregate direct benefit of the current vaccination program was estimated to be between 20 and 35.6 billion US dollars depending on the vaccine protection duration.

Sample restrictions and the elicitation of a constant willingness to pay per quality adjusted life year.

It is well established that the underlying theoretical assumptions needed to obtain a constant proportional trade-off between a quality adjusted life year (QALY) and willingness to pay (WTP) are restrictive and often empirically violated. In this paper, we set out to investigate whether the proportionality conditions (in terms of scope insensitivity and severity independence) can be satisfied when data is restricted to include only respondents who pass certain consistency criteria. We hypothesize that the more we restrict the data, the better the compliance with the requirement of constant proportional trade-off between WTP and QALY. We revisit the Danish data from the European Value of a QALY survey eliciting individual WTP for a QALY (WTP-Q). Using a "chained approach" respondents were first asked to value a specified health state using the standard gamble (SG) or the time-trade-off (TTO) approach and subsequently asked their WTP for QALY gains of 0.05 and 0.1 (tailored according to the respondent's SG/TTO valuation). Analyzing the impact of the different exclusion criteria on the two proportionality conditions, we find strong evidence against a constant WTP-Q. Restricting our data to include only respondents who pass the most stringent consistency criteria does not impact on the performance of the proportionality conditions for WTP-Q.

Do consumers value food products containing upcycled ingredients? The effect of nutritional and environmental information

This study was the first to use a ranking experiment to estimate the effect of nutritional and environmental information on UK consumers’ willingness to pay (WTP) for biscuits containing an upcycled ingredient, namely, defatted sunflower cake flour. Informing consumers about the nutritional and/or environmental benefits of the upcycled ingredient resulted in a significant increase in their WTP for this new food. Moreover, we found that nutritional and/or environmental information similarly affected individual WTP distributions for the upcycled ingredient towards more positive values. Our findings have important implications for product development and marketing strategies of upcycled food businesses.

Value and Heterogeneity: Using a Choice Experiment to Evaluate the Coastal Recreational Environment

The management of the coastal park environment is a major ecological and economic development issue. In developing effective policies, relevant information is essential, especially the economic valuation of various recreation-related environmental attributes. This study used Dalian coastal parks as a pilot study area and estimated the willingness to pay (WTP) of tourists using three different discrete choice models. In this study, we analyzed the preference heterogeneity among the respondents regarding a combination of park attributes, and the individual respondent's WTP values were estimated for each attribute. The results indicate that water quality amelioration and trash reduction had the highest economic values among the given attribute factors. In addition, the estimated tourist WTP varied considerably among different segments, such as among the visitors who preferred different recreational activities. These findings provide valuable information that will allow coastal park managers to develop policies which maintain a balance between tourism development and improvement of the coastal environment.

Sustainability Agreements and Social Norms

Spurred by recent publications of NACs, there is an ongoing debate on whether and, if so, how competition law and its enforcement shall give due consideration to concerns of sustainability, notably (though not exclusively) environmental sustainability. With respect to horizontal agreements, we define circumstances where sustainability concerns may indeed warrant a somewhat modified approach for the assessment of consumer welfare implications of a market related measure. We posit that the willingness-to-pay (WTP) for more sustainable products may depend on social norms to a greater extent than the WTP for products, whose valuation is based mainly or even exclusively on their immediate use value for the consumer. What makes the integration of social norms in WTP challenging, however, is the fact that a sustainability agreement can impact this social norm in that it pushes the market towards more sustainable products, which, in turn, may then change the observable behavior of other consumers. Such repercussions may increase individual WTP for sustainable products in the entire consumer cohort. Absent the sustainability agreement, market segmentation or capacity and resource constraints could hamper the emergence of such a new social norm. Also, with such norm-based externalities, there is a first-mover disadvantage, which deserves recognition in the assessment of sustainability agreements.

Do consumers really recognise a distinct quality hierarchy amongst PDO sparkling wines? The answer from experimental auctions

PurposeConsumer likeability and willingness to pay (WTP) for two Italian sparkling wines, (Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco DOCG and Prosecco DOC) are evaluated through a non-hypothetical Becker-DeGroot-Marschak (BDM) auction during a wine-tasting experiment. The purpose of this paper is to estimate individual WTP and relate it to likeability for both wines, with and without supplying additional information on their features.Design/methodology/approachData were collected in May–June 2019 from a sample of 99 consumers in Northern Italy. A non-hypothetical BDM auction in a wine-tasting experiment was implemented.FindingsThe results show that the additional information plays a significant role in widening the WTP gap between the two geographical indications (GIs), while the blind tasting narrows this gap. The “superiority” of the Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco DOCG is confirmed but relies more on its better reputation than its better taste.Research limitations/implicationsThe authors are aware of two main limitations in the study. The first is the territorial composition of the consumer sample. The second is the selection of the Prosecco bottles used in the experiment. The results are considered pioneering and need to be verified by additional experiments with different consumer and bottle samples.Practical implicationsPromotional suggestions for the Tutelary Consortia of the two GIs stem from the results. The Prosecco DOC should primarily stress its likeability, while the Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco DOCG should primarily emphasise the reasons for its “superiority”.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors' knowledge, no previous study has related likeability and WTP for similar GI wines produced in contiguous areas. Moreover, the current research has applied a non-hypothetical BDM auction in a wine-tasting experiment.