Valuation Survey Research Articles

Is prevention of suicide worth less? A comparison of the value per statistical life

This paper compares the value per statistical life (VSL) in the context of suicide prevention to that of prevention of traffic fatalities. We conducted a contingent valuation survey with questions on willingness to pay (WTP) in both contexts by administering a web questionnaire to 1038 individuals aged 18 to 80. We conjectured that WTP for a given impact on the number of fatalities would be lower for suicide prevention because suicide, at least to some degree, is the result of individuals’ own decisions. However, this hypothesis was not supported by the within- or between-sample estimates of WTP or by responses to direct questions. Hence, no support is provided for the use of a lower valuation of the impact of suicide prevention than for risk-reducing programs in other fields, such as traffic safety. This implies that the same VSL should be used for evaluating suicide prevention interventions and for risk-reducing programs in other policy areas and funds for the prevention of fatalities should be directed to the area with the lowest cost per life saved.

Do people put more value on electricity produced using waste-to-hydrogen? Findings from South Korea

South Korea is pushing for the waste-to-hydrogen (W2H) project to reduce greenhouse gases and utilize plastic and vinyl waste (PVW) while reducing environmental pollution from PVW. This research seeks to estimate additional willingness to pay (WTP) for electricity produced using W2H over that produced using traditional power sources, such as coal and nuclear. For the purpose of the estimation, a contingent valuation survey of 1000 people was performed employing the closed-ended one-and-one-half-bound question during November 2020. A spike model is utilized to reflect zero WTP values that a number of interviewees reported in the survey. Several factors affecting the additional WTP were also analyzed to derive implications. The average WTP was computed as KRW 27.7 (USD 0.025) per kWh with statistical significance, which reaches 26.4% of the electricity price. One more point to note is that 54.3% of the respondents stated a zero WTP as they thought that W2H is of no value to them or were worried that the W2H project could increase electricity bills.

​Farmer’s Willingness-to-Pay for Animal Health and Livestock Insurance Services in Milking State of India: Empirical Findings from Rural Areas of Gujarat

This paper presents the results of a referendum-style contingent valuation survey conducted in one of the richest milking states of India. 200 households were surveyed to study the farmer’s preferences and choices for the health, breeding and insurance services. The objective of the survey was to assess the preference structure and the willingness of poor farmers to pay for veterinary health and insurance services. It is a comparative study between the existing situation and improved situation, that how the willingness to pay (WTP) will change if the quality of the health, breeding and insurance services will improve. The results show that farmers are willing to pay for assured access to veterinary services. Majority of the households value these services tremendously and are not looking for subsidies provided by the government institutions. It was noticed that farmer’s willingness to pay was much higher than the amount government institutions were presently charging for improved livestock support services, e.g. health and AI services. Though the coverage of Livestock insurance was low but it was found that farmers were ready to pay high amount of premium charges if the insurance services are easily available to the farmer’s door step with very less paper work and other formalities. Combining the findings of this survey with other closely related studies and the changing structure the input and output markets for livestock sector, the paper suggests specific policy measures to more effectively meet the expanding livestock services needs of poor livestock farmers.

Economic evaluation of process utility: elucidating preferences for a non-invasive procedure to treat restenosis

BackgroundIn health economic evaluation, utility associated with a health state is outcome-oriented and usually measured using the QALY methodology. Even though there is consistent evidence of utility not only being derived from outcomes but also from procedures, process utility has not been fully integrated in QALY calculations. The aim of this paper is twofold: first, to provide evidence of process utility associated with an alternative treatment to angioplasty, and second, to estimate a monetary value of such process utility using the willingness to pay (WTP) approach.MethodsA total of 1514 people were polled on their WTP to avoid angioplasty to have a drug-eluting stent (DES) implanted. WTP is estimated with a contingent valuation (CV) survey. Individuals are also asked if they would be WTP for a non-invasive procedure with similar results being achieved. WTP responses were analyzed using a double bounded (DB) logit model.ResultsMost of the participants showed positive preferences for avoiding angioplasty, with an estimated mean WTP of €5692.87. Using QALY gains for avoiding angioplasty, varying from 0.0035 to 0.08 QALYs, our WTP estimate imply monetary values per QALY that range from €71,160.87 to €1,626,534.28.DiscussionA WTP of €5692.87 to avoid angioplasty imply a monetary value per QALY that greatly exceed the cost per QALY thresholds established in different countries to consider health programs as beneficial to society. Our results reflect how different methodologies for HTA may lead to different conclusions. From the ICER perspective, the cost that would make the treatment with pills option cost-effective, using a threshold of €40,000/QALY, would be €224. However, a cost-benefit approach could support health programs even with a higher cost.ConclusionWTP methodology captures outcome and process factors related to angioplasty as our WTP estimations are non-significantly different for the costs of angioplasty. WTP approach must be considered as a genuine alternative to QALY approaches to value process utility.

Comparing the monetary value of a quality-adjusted life year from the payment card and the open-ended format

BackgroundThe payment card (PC) format and the open-ended (OE) format are common methods in eliciting willingness-to-pay (WTP) of one additional quality-adjusted life year (QALY). The aim of this research is to compare these two formats in eliciting the monetary value of a QALY.MethodsA contingent valuation survey was carried out using a pre-designed questionnaire with various hypothetical scenarios. The difference between the PC and the OE formats was evaluated by a two-sample equality test. Furthermore, generalized linear models were carried out to control observed heterogeneity and to test theoretical validity.ResultsIn total, 461 individuals were involved, among whom 235 (51%) answered the PC question, while 226 (49%) answered the OE question. Excluding zero response, the mean WTP values of these two formats for different scenarios varied dramatically, which was from 13,278 to 280,177 RMB for the PC, 18,119 to 620,913 RMB for the OE. The OE format tended to elicit lower values for less serious condition and higher values for more serious condition. However, equality test of mean and median demonstrated insignificant difference of these two formats for all scenarios. For both OE and PC format, most variables were found to have significant effect on the value of WTP/QALY. Moreover, joint estimation indicated a statistically significant positive effect on the OE results. Further analysis demonstrated that the imbalanced zero response distribution caused the main difference of these two formats.ConclusionsThis research indicated insignificantly different WTP/QALY estimates of the PC format and OE format with the grouped data whereas significantly higher estimates of the OE format from the pooled data. These two formats were found to be valid. More research about the difference and the validity of various WTP eliciting methods would be recommended for a robust estimation of WTP/QALY.

The perception of climate change and the demand for weather-index microinsurance: evidence from a contingent valuation survey in Nepal

ABSTRACT Despite donor assistance and government subsidies, the uptake of microinsurance products to insure against extreme climate events remains low in many climate vulnerable economies. Emerging evidence indicates that various non-price factors such as lack of knowledge, trust in institutions, beliefs, and perceptions about climate change partly explain the low uptake. This study uses the CVM approach to investigate the effect of one such factor – farmers’ climate change perceptions – on the adoption of weather index micro-insurance. We introduce two hypothetical weather index microinsurance products to farming households in Nepal: the first one (basic) insures paddy only, whereas the second one (comprehensive) also insures livestock. We use bivariate probit models with order effects for empirical estimation. We find that households’ ex ante perception of future climate change as well as their ex-post perceptions of past climate change impacts have significant effects on their microinsurance purchase decisions. Mean WTP-values for the basic and comprehensive products are NRs. 3096 and NRs. 13209 respectively. We also find some evidence of crowding-out effects on private risk transfer markets by other public and donor climate adaptation programmes. Our findings suggest that public policies should focus on increasing climate awareness, accountability and the development of competitive microinsurance markets.

Contingent valuation estimates for environmental goods: Validity and reliability

The contingent valuation method (CV) has become a recognised tool for estimating monetary non-market values. Despite the pragmatic acceptance of CV in policy evaluation, the application of CV-based estimates in decision-making remains controversial, as critics argue that CV suffers of hypothetical bias and question its accuracy to reflect non-market values via willingness to pay (WTP) estimates. In this paper we approach the assessment of CV accuracy from a double perspective. First, we assess validity and reliability by comparing CV-based WTP estimates and real monetary contributions to a crowdfunding initiative. Second, we assess construct validity identifying whether changing individual preferences are driven by strictly rational economic behaviour or by other factors that are not consistent with it. For this purpose, we conduct regression analysis using a synthetic panel dataset constructed from two contingent valuation surveys using the Propensity Score Matching method. Our findings suggest that WTP estimates are suitable to infer the economic value of environmental assets. This evidence points towards non-market valuation methods being capable of eliciting rational behaviour from individuals that is free of hypothetical bias. However, hypothetical bias might be lurking in a less researched area, that of market participation, which calls for a rigorous treatment of protest behaviour.

Would people pay a price premium for electricity from domestic wind power facilities? The case of South Korea

South Korea tried to drastically expand the capacity of wind power generation from 1.8 GW in 2020 to 24.9 GW in 2034. Moreover, the “Green New Deal” policy is being implemented to promote employment and growth by using domestic wind power facilities. This article estimates additional willingness to pay (WTP) or price premium, for electricity generated from domestic wind power facilities over that from imported ones. For this purpose, a contingent valuation survey of 1000 households was carried out employing the closed-ended question during September 2020. A spike model is utilized to reflect the zero WTP values reported by 58.3% of the interviewees. Several factors affecting the price premium were also analyzed to derive implications. The average price premium for electricity generated from domestic wind power generation facilities was estimated to be KRW 22.5 (USD 0.019) per kWh with statistical significance. This value reaches 21.4% of the electricity price for 2019 (KRW105 or USD 0.089 per kWh). It should be noted that more than half of the people reported a zero price premium, as they thought that “Green” is more important than “New Deal,” or they worried that the supply of domestic wind power facilities could raise electricity bills.

Whether Households are Willing to Pay for Clean Water Supply in Sialkot, Pakistan? An Elucidation

Waterborne diseases due to contaminated water remain a severe problem in most of the developing world. The situation is serious in Sialkot the district of Punjab where groundwater is contaminated due to effluents' improper disposal. The current study is designed to find the determinants of willingness to pay (WTP) by households for clean drinking water supply in the affected area. A contingent valuation survey approach and a stratified random sampling technique have been applied. A double bounded dichotomous choice question followed by an open-ended question format has been used to elicit WTP and maximum willingness of the respondents for clean drinking water supply. Logit and Multiple Linear Regression Model is used as an econometric tool to analyze the data. The results reveal that as the income of the respondent increases, the WTP for the clean water supply also increases. While multiple regression reveals a monthly mean WTP of Rs. 234.54 which is greatly affected by age, household income, education, and environmental awareness i.e. respondents with higher household income and a higher level of education are willing to pay more for a clean water supply. Residents who are living closer to the tanneries are more affected and their WTP is higher. Keywords: Willingness to Pay, Clean drinking water, Contingent Valuation Method, Binomial Logit Regression, Leather Tanneries, Sialkot, Pakistan

Social acceptance and willingness to pay for a smart Eco-toilet system producing a Community-based bioenergy in Korea

This study investigates residents’ social acceptance and their willingness to pay for the community-based smart Eco-toilet system (SETS) project developed by Science Walden in UNIST, Korea. As an alternative to the flushing toilets and the centralized sewage treatment system, the SETS project strives to save water and recover bioenergy and fertilizer on a community basis as well as operate with a health check-up service. A nation-wide, web-based contingent valuation survey was implemented for the sample of 1,613 households in 2018. Nearly 80 percent of respondents expressed their intentions to use the Eco-toilet at home. About 70 percent of the sample stated a positive willingness to pay for the construction of a bioenergy facility inside their community. Furthermore, about 41 percent of the sample expressed their willingness to pay for adding a health monitoring sensor. The respondents’ stated preference for the SETS project was influenced by their perceptions and attitudes toward human feces, water usage of flushing toilets, and efficiency of bioenergy and renewable energy. The willingness to pay for constructing the Eco-toilet system was estimated to be around $12 USD per month. The willingness to pay for the smart health services was estimated to be about $3.45 USD per month.

Willingness to give amid pandemics: a contingent valuation of anticipated nongovernmental immunization programs.

Given that altruism is crucial in assisting impoverished households to cope with health and economic crises, it is important to improve our understanding of how preferences and motives for giving differ during a pandemic. We implemented a web-based, contingent valuation survey to estimate Americans’ willingness to give for nongovernmental immunization programs in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Our results indicate that the median person is willing to give a one-time donation of $26, or at least $13 when willingness-to-give estimates are corrected for uncertainty regarding future donations. We find that willingness to give is related to income, concern levels, vaccine usage, and sociodemographic characteristics. Our findings also shed light on purely and impurely altruistic motives underlying the willingness to fund immunization programs.

Valuations of Transport Nuisances and Cognitive Biases: A Survey Laboratory Experiment in the Pyrenees Region

We designed a survey that aims at estimating individual willingness-to-pay to reduce noise and air pollution arising from transportation activity near the Pyrenees in Navarre (Spain). Our participants cope with a series of contingent valuation questions and also with an economic experiment with real incentives about the same topic. Our goal is to identify several methodological problems in the valuation process coming from hypothetical bias, correlation effect and sequence effect when series of responses are requested. Our main results are that hypothetical bias is significant, because the willingness-to-pay is greater when the survey is hypothetical compared to when there is real monetary incentive. Likewise, the correlation effect also observes the same behavior since the willingness-to-pay for pollution mitigation is close to the one established for noise reduction. Finally, we have obtained mixed evidence for the sequence effect, being present only in the contingent valuation survey part.

One Size Does Not Fit All: Financial Incentives Needed to Change Physical Exercise Levels for Different Groups.

This study estimated the distribution of willingness to accept (WTA) for a physical activity behavior change intervention entailing the completion of 10,000 steps/day to shed light on which levels of incentives trigger a change in behavior for different proportions of the population and for more at-risk subgroups. An online contingent valuation (CV) survey was administered to 1130 respondents in the Basque Autonomous Community, Spain. The survey queried respondents about their physical activity levels and intention to engage in physical activity before presenting the WTA questions. Nonparametric WTA values were estimated for the whole sample and for subsamples of active, inactive, and overweight and obese people. One-quarter of respondents would engage with the hypothetical program even without payment, but if a monetary incentive was offered them, they would take it. The median WTA for committing to complete 10,000 steps/day is €0.23 for the full sample, €0.21 for active, €0.25 for inactive, and €0.23 for overweight and obese people. The WTA at 75th percentile is €4 for the full sample, €1.70 for active, €10.80 for inactive, and €5 for overweight and obese respondents. WTA is positively affected by a person's lack of disposable time to increase their physical activity and, for inactive people, by their poor intention to become physically active.

Estimating the willingness to pay for regulating and cultural ecosystem services from forested Siwalik landscapes: perspectives of disaggregated users

We assessed forest users’ willingness to pay (WTP) for regulating and cultural forest services based on their socio-economic status (rich vs. poor), proximity to forests (nearby vs. distant), and forest management modalities (community forestry vs. collaborative forest management). As expected, a huge variation was found in WTP among these sub-groups. The wealthier households (HH) preferred ‘cash’ whereas poor HHs preferred ‘labour’ as a payment option. Forest’s ecosystem services (FES) research have largely concentrated on aggregated economic valuation, while minimal consideration has been paid to distributional issues of willingness to pay (WTP) of many regulating and cultural services such as water quality improvement (WQI), flood control (FC), and bequest and aesthetic values. We assessed WTP of high-priority FES to the various sub-groups (nearby/distant, rich/poor and community/collaborative forest users) and explored the preferred payment options among the sub-groups in the Siwalik landscape of Nepal. We carried out contingent valuation survey of 253 households (ranging from 31 to 33 households from each of the sub-groups). We performed the generalised linear mixed model (GLMM) to analyse the data in RStudio. Spatial distance and wealth levels of the respondents play a crucial role in WTP of FES. GLMM analysis indicated that WTP of non-marketed FES differed in terms of cash and labour format. Generally, the WTP is higher in wealthier sub-groups as a cash option. WTP in-terms of labour is a better option for poor HH. Disaggregated WTP should be considered while designing future forest management interventions.

The Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy Eight Dimension (FACT-8D), a Multi-Attribute Utility Instrument Derived From the Cancer-Specific FACT-General (FACT-G) Quality of Life Questionnaire: Development and Australian Value Set

ObjectivesTo develop a cancer-specific multi-attribute utility instrument derived from the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy - General (FACT-G) health-related quality of life (HRQL) questionnaire. MethodsWe derived a descriptive system based on a subset of the 27-item FACT-G. Item selection was informed by psychometric analyses of existing FACT-G data (n = 6912) and by patient input (n = 82). We then conducted an online valuation survey, with participants recruited via an Australian general population online panel. A discrete choice experiment (DCE) was used, with attributes being the HRQL dimensions of the descriptive system and survival duration, and 16 choice-pairs per participant. Utility decrements were estimated with conditional logit and mixed logit modeling. ResultsEight HRQL dimensions were included in the descriptive system: pain, fatigue, nausea, sleep, work, social support, sadness, and future health worry; each with 5 levels. Of 1737 panel members who accessed the valuation survey, 1644 (95%) completed 1 or more DCE choice-pairs and were included in analyses. Utility decrements were generally monotonic; within each dimension, poorer HRQL levels generally had larger utility decrements. The largest utility decrements were for the highest levels of pain (-0.40) and nausea (-0.28). The worst health state had a utility of -0.54, considerably worse than dead. ConclusionsA descriptive system and preference-based scoring approach were developed for the FACT-8D, a new cancer-specific multi-attribute utility instrument derived from the FACT-G. The Australian value set is the first of a series of country-specific value sets planned that can facilitate cost-utility analyses based on items from the FACT-G and related FACIT questionnaires containing FACT-G items.

Status quo bias and public policy: evidence in the context of carbon mitigation

This article examines whether individuals’ preferences for government policy are affected by status quo bias. We designed a contingent valuation survey that asks respondents directly about their willingness to pay (WTP) for their state to be a part of a regional carbon mitigation policy. The survey has two randomized frames, which differ in whether or not their state is already part of the policy. We distributed the survey to a representative sample of Rhode Island residents (N = 844). We find that respondents who believe that Rhode Island would be joining the policy for the first time have a WTP to join of $170 (quite similar to previous research at a national scale), whereas those who believe Rhode Island is already part of the policy are willing to pay 2.5 times more, or $420, to stay in the program. Our results suggest that citizens greatly prefer existing carbon mitigation policies to new policies, which implies that carbon policy will be more successful if enacted through the legislature instead of popular vote.

Measuring the Direct and Indirect Effect of Scientific Information on Valuing Storm Water Management Programs With a Hybrid Choice Model

AbstractWe use scientific information to develop a realistic hypothetical scenario for storm water management and water quality improvements in a stated preference valuation survey. We then provide different treatment levels of the scientific information to survey respondents. Using a hybrid choice model, we find that scientific information has no direct influence on referendum votes in favor of a storm water management program. However, different levels of scientific information have an indirect effect by influencing respondent concern about storm water runoff and by changing perceived understanding of the storm water management plan. We show that both of these effects, neither of which are apparent in standard logit models, have implications for valuing a storm water management plan. Our results suggest that researchers should be aware of how their choice on the information provided may have a subtle influence on responses in stated preference survey.

Let the citizens speak: An empirical economic analysis of domestic organic waste for community composting in Tuscany

Organic waste represents an opportunity and a challenge for policy decision makers and lately the attention has been focusing on community composting practices identifying the environmental and/or economic aspects. Evidence of citizens’ attitudes and preferences is scarce, and this paper aims to fill this gap. The results of a contingent valuation survey in three councils of the Province of Siena, Tuscany (Italy) are reported along with an extended cost-benefit analysis. Results echo previous findings that GHGs emissions and money-saving for all municipalities are positive and encouraging; moreover, our study proves that citizens are keen to switch to the community recycling composter system. Citizens present heterogeneous preferences and accordingly to the current waste management system they might need a small financial compensation to switch in favour of the local community system.

Comprehensive Valuation of the Ecosystem Services of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

Ecosystem services (ES) have been well studied in most biomes, but the Arctic tundra has received little attention, despite covering over 10% of terrestrial Earth. Using established ES methodologies, we calculated values (in 2016 USD) for the United States Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, a region virtually undisturbed by humans, but slated for future oil and gas drilling. We estimated the Refuge is worth about 1957 USD/hectare/year, equal to over 15 billion USD annually. Globally important services, such as climate regulation (e.g., carbon storage) and non-use services (e.g., aesthetic information), contributed the most value and were similar to valuations from more productive ecosystems. Local services made smaller contributions to the total, but they remain vitally important to local indigenous cultures. Strikingly, a contingent valuation survey of US residents found that, after neutral educational information, willingness-to-pay to maintain the Refuge in its current state exceeded estimated values of the oil and gas deposits. Our study shows that citizens may value Arctic habitats beyond their traditional economic development potential. Our comprehensive ecosystem services valuation suggests that maintaining the Refuge in its current condition (i.e., de facto wilderness) with its full range of ES is more valuable to humanity compared to development for oil and gas.

Average residential outage cost estimates for the lower 48 states in the US

Motivated by diverse residential electricity outage cost estimates and possible hypothetical bias of contingent valuation (CV) survey data, this paper proposes a simple formula for market-based estimation of residential outage costs. Its key finding is that average residential outage cost estimates for the lower 48 states of the US range from US$0.12 to US$0.34 per kWh unserved, below the regional CV-based estimates of US$1.0 to US$4.2 per kWh unserved found by a national study. It makes three contributions to the literature of residential outage cost estimation. First, it obviates collecting and analysing CV survey data for estimating average residential outage costs. Second, its proposed formula has minimal data requirements and is applicable to any city, state, region, or country. Finally, it details the policy implications of our newly found empirics in electricity pricing, resource planning, resource procurement, electricity product differentiation, and performance-based regulation of electricity reliability.