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on Discrete Choice Models |
| By: | Whittington, Dale; Adamowicz, Wiktor |
| Abstract: | Researchers using stated preference (SP) techniques have increasingly come to rely on what we call “hypothetical baselines.” By this we mean that respondents are provided with a description of a current state, or baseline, but that this baseline is intentionally not the actual state of environmental quality, health, or other condition. The researcher then poses a valuation question or choice task that is contingent, not on the existing status quo, but rather on the state of the world described in this new hypothetical baseline. In this paper, we argue that researchers using SP techniques have often used hypothetical baselines without carefully considering the cognitive challenges this poses for respondents or the difficulties this practice creates for advising policymakers. We present a simple typology of four types of SP studies, two of which rely on hypothetical baselines, and give six examples of conditions that an SP researcher may change to create a hypothetical baseline. We discuss four main reasons why SP analysts use hypothetical baselines in their research designs, plus some of the risks associated with the use of hypothetical baselines. Finally, we offer guidance for the use of hypothetical baselines in future SP surveys. |
| Keywords: | stated preference, environmental valuation, health valuation, contingent valuation, choice experiments, baseline, status quo |
| JEL: | Q51 D61 Q56 |
| Date: | 2011–12–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rff:dpaper:dp-11-11-efd&r=dcm |
| By: | Dorothée Boccanfuso (Département d’économique and GRÉDI, Université de Sherbrooke); Luc Savard (Département d’économique and GRÉDI, Université de Sherbrooke) |
| Abstract: | Labour market analysis is an important element to understand the inequality and poverty within a given population. The literature reveals that the informal sector is characterised by a great deal of flexibility and exempt from formal market rigidities but on the other hand, this sector can constitute a trap from which it is difficult to exit for workers active in the sector with low wages. In this paper we aim to identify the main characteristics differentiating the labor supply of workers on the informal and formal market in the Philippines while estimating these two labor supplies, capturing discrete choice or changes in employment status. We use these estimates to construct a labor supply model that can serve as an input for a broader macro-microsimulation model applied to the Philippines. The results of the estimation provide relatively intuitive findings, highlighting some differences between the two markets. We also contribute to shedding some light into this macro-microsimulation modelling framework that is generally opaque in describing how to construct a microsimulation model with endogenous discrete choice model linked to a CGE model. |
| Keywords: | labor supply, informal sector, microsimulation, discrete choice model, Philippines |
| JEL: | C35 O53 J24 C81 O17 |
| Date: | 2011–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:shr:wpaper:11-19&r=dcm |
| By: | Neustadt, Ilja; Zweifel, Peter |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we elicit preferences of Swiss citizens for the allocation of income redistribution to different uses through a Discrete Choice Experiment performed in 2008. Neustadt and Zweifel (2009} provide an estimate of the total desired amount of income redistribution as a share of disposable income. Here, we estimate marginal willingness-to-pay values for types of recipients (old-age pensioners, people with ill health, the unemployed, working poor, and families with children) and their nationality (Swiss, citizens of western European countries, others). Hypotheses derived from the insurance motive for redistribution receive some empirical support. |
| Keywords: | Income redistribution; preferences; willingness to pay; discrete choice experiments; conjoint analysis; social status |
| JEL: | D63 H29 C35 C93 |
| Date: | 2011–10–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:35427&r=dcm |