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on Discrete Choice Models |
| By: | Damien Dussaux; Andrea Leiter; Väinö Nurmi; Christoph Rheinberger |
| Abstract: | While fertility decline is a global phenomenon that has many causes, part of it can be explained by exposure to substances linked to reproductive toxicity that are produced and lead to human exposure through the environment and products. Authorities face challenges in regulating reprotoxic substances through actions such as bans and prohibitions, because of the difficulty in explicitly considering the economic benefits and costs of such regulations. Moreover, economic studies that show the value of reducing infertility caused by chemical exposure are not yet available.This paper is part of the series of large scale willingness to pay (WTP) studies resulting from the Surveys to elicit Willingness to pay to Avoid Chemicals related negative Health Effects (SWACHE) project that intends to improve the basis for doing cost benefit analyses of chemicals management options and environmental policies in general. The present paper details a stated preference survey estimating WTP to reduce the risk of infertility, filling an important gap in the valuation literature and addressing a need for applied benefits analysis for chemicals regulation. The SWACHE infertility survey was fielded in 10 countries: Australia, Canada, Chile, Germany, Japan, Poland, Portugal, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States. |
| Keywords: | chemicals regulation, economic valuation, health risk, health valuation, infertility, monetised benefits, morbidity valuation, non-market valuation, stated preferences, surveys, value of a statistical case, willingness-to-pay |
| JEL: | D61 J17 K32 Q51 Q53 Q58 I18 |
| Date: | 2023–06–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:envaaa:215-en&r=dcm |
| By: | Damien Dussaux; Chris Dockins; Charles Griffiths; Nathalie Simon; Sandra Hoffmann |
| Abstract: | Compromised kidney function is associated with an array of environmental contaminants and chemicals, including heavy metals, certain organic solvents, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), as well as food and waterborne pathogens. Many of these hazards are subject to regulation, or may be considered for regulation, in order to reduce exposures and prevent human health risks. However, valuation estimates for kidney effects that can be used in cost-benefit analyses are few, particularly willingness-to-pay estimates. In particular, there appears to be no willingness-to-pay (WTP) estimate available for reduced risk of chronic kidney disease and therefore no estimate for the Value of a Statistical Case (VSC) of chronic kidney disease.This paper is part of the series of large scale willingness to pay (WTP) studies resulting from the Surveys to elicit Willingness to pay to Avoid Chemicals related negative Health Effects (SWACHE) project that intends to improve the basis for doing cost benefit analyses of chemicals management options and environmental policies in general. The paper details a stated preference survey estimating WTP to reduce the risk of symptomatic chronic kidney disease, termed serious kidney disease in the survey instrument, filling an important gap in the valuation literature and addressing a need for applied benefits analysis for chemicals regulation. The SWACHE serious kidney impairment survey was fielded in 10 countries: Canada, Chile, China, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Norway, Türkiye, the United Kingdom and the United States. |
| Keywords: | chemicals regulation, economic valuation, health risk, health valuation, kidney disease, monetised benefits, morbidity valuation, non-market valuation, stated preferences, surveys, value of a statistical case, willingness-to-pay |
| JEL: | D61 J17 K32 Q51 Q53 Q58 I18 |
| Date: | 2023–06–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:envaaa:216-en&r=dcm |
| By: | Damien Dussaux; Gildas Appéré; Alan Krupnick; Muriel Travers |
| Abstract: | Asthma is a non-communicable and non-curable lung disease that is associated with an array of environmental contaminants and chemicals. Many of these hazards are subject to regulation, or may be considered for regulation, in order to reduce exposures and prevent human health risks. However, the available information on willingness-to-pay (WTP) to avoid asthma or reduce its severity is scarce, incomplete and does not provide estimates compatible with welfare economic theory that can be used in cost-benefit analysis. This paper is part of the series of large scale willingness to pay (WTP) studies resulting from the Surveys to elicit Willingness to pay to Avoid Chemicals related negative Health Effects (SWACHE) project that intends to improve the basis for doing cost-benefit analyses of chemicals management options and environmental policies in general. The present paper offers values suitable for use in cost-benefit analyses of the WTP for reduced severity of asthma attacks in adults and children and in reduced probability of getting asthma for these two population groups, all in the context of reducing chemical exposures, and covering populations in seven OECD countries: Canada, Czech Republic, France, Poland, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States. The context for such WTP elicitations was a set of household products that contain fewer hazardous chemicals than what is currently available in supermarkets but are more expensive. |
| Keywords: | asthma, chemicals regulation, economic valuation, health risk, health valuation, monetised benefits, morbidity valuation, non-market valuation, stated preferences, surveys, value of a statistical case, willingness-to-pay |
| JEL: | D61 I18 J17 K32 Q51 Q53 Q58 |
| Date: | 2023–06–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:envaaa:218-en&r=dcm |
| By: | Susana Mourato; Giles Atkinson; Damien Dussaux; Chiara Sotis; Stavros Georgiou; Davide Contu |
| Abstract: | Exposure to chemicals has been shown to reduce IQ in children. In turn, a person’s IQ is likely to affect their educational achievements, which may then affect lifetime earnings, more generally, a person’s quality of life. At the same time, authorities face challenges in regulating chemical substances through actions such as bans and prohibitions, because of the difficulty in explicitly considering the economic benefits and costs of such regulations. Moreover, economic studies that show the value of reducing IQ loss caused by chemical exposure are not yet available.This paper is part of the series of large scale willingness to pay (WTP) studies resulting from the Surveys to elicit Willingness to pay to Avoid Chemicals related negative Health Effects (SWACHE) project that intends to improve the basis for doing cost benefit analyses of chemicals management options and environmental policies in general. The present paper details a stated preference survey estimating WTP to avoid IQ loss, filling an important gap in the valuation literature and addressing a need for applied benefits analysis for chemicals regulation. The SWACHE IQ loss survey was fielded in 11 countries: Australia, Canada, Denmark, Korea, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, South Africa, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States. |
| Keywords: | chemicals regulation, economic valuation, health risk, health valuation, IQ, monetised benefits, morbidity valuation, non-market valuation, stated preferences, surveys, value of a statistical case, willingness-to-pay |
| JEL: | D61 I18 J17 K32 Q51 Q53 Q58 |
| Date: | 2023–06–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:envaaa:219-en&r=dcm |
| By: | Milan Ščasný; Iva Zvěřinová; Damien Dussaux |
| Abstract: | There is ample evidence that exposure to various chemicals can increase the probability of children to be born with low or very low birth weight. Infants born with very low birth weight have a higher risk of suffering from neurosensory problems, issues related to behavioural and social competencies, and learning disabilities than infants born with normal birth weight. Authorities face challenges in regulating chemical substances through actions such as bans and prohibitions, because of the difficulty in explicitly considering the economic benefits and costs of such regulations. Moreover, existing Values of a Statistical Case (VSC) of very low birth weight are rare and cannot be directly applied to the cost benefit analysis of chemical management options for a wide range of countries.This paper is part of the series of large scale willingness to pay (WTP) studies resulting from the Surveys to elicit Willingness to pay to Avoid Chemicals related negative Health Effects (SWACHE) project that intends to improve the basis for doing cost benefit analyses of chemicals management options and environmental policies in general. The present paper details a stated preference survey estimating WTP to reduce the risk of very low birth weight, filling an important gap in the valuation literature and addressing a need for applied benefits analysis for chemicals regulation. The SWACHE infertility survey was fielded in 9 countries: Canada, the Czech Republic, Italy, Mexico, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Türkiye, the United Kingdom, and the United States. |
| Keywords: | chemicals regulation, economic valuation, health risk, health valuation, monetised benefits, morbidity valuation, non-market valuation, stated preferences, surveys, value of a statistical case, very low birth weight, willingness-to-pay |
| JEL: | D61 I18 J17 K32 L51 Q53 Q58 |
| Date: | 2023–06–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:envaaa:217-en&r=dcm |
| By: | Kandelhardt, Johannes |
| Abstract: | The Berry, Levinsohn, and Pakes (1995, BLP) model is widely used to obtain parameter estimates of market forces in differentiated product markets. The results are often used as an input to evaluate economic activity in a structural model of demand and supply. Precise estimation of parameter estimates is therefore crucial to obtain realistic economic predictions. The present paper combines the BLP model and the logit mixed logit model of Train (2016) to estimate the distribution of consumer heterogeneity in a flexible and parsimonious way. A Monte Carlo study yields asymptotically normally distributed and consistent estimates of the structural parameters. With access to micro data, the approach allows for the estimation of highly flexible parametric distributions. The estimator further allows to introduce correlations between tastes, yielding more realistic demand patterns without substantially altering the procedure of estimation, making it relevant for practitioners. The BLP estimator is established to yield biased and inconsistent results when the underlying distributional shape is non-normally distributed. An application shows the estimator to perform well on a real world dataset and provides similar estimates as the BLP estimator with the option of specifying consumer heterogeneity as a function of a polynomial, step function or spline, resulting in a flexible estimation procedure. |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:dicedp:399&r=dcm |
| By: | Khuc, Quy Van; Tran, Duc-Trung |
| Abstract: | This paper introduces an advanced method that integrates contingent valuation and machine learning (CVML) to estimate residents’ demand for mitigating environmental pollutions and climate change. To be precise, CVML is an innovative hybrid machine-learning model, and it can leverage a limited amount of survey data for prediction and data enrichment purposes. The model comprises of two interconnected modules: Module I, an unsupervised learning algorithm, and Module II, a supervised learning algorithm. Module I is responsible for clustering the data (x^sur) into groups based on common characteristics, thereby grouping the corresponding dependent variable (y^sur) values as well. Take a survey on the topic of air pollution in Hanoi in 2019 as an example, we find that CVML can predict households’ willingness– to– pay for polluted air mitigation at a high degree of accuracy (i.e., over 90%). This finding suggests that CVML is a powerful and practical method that would be potentially widely applied in fields of environmental economics and sustainability science in years to come. |
| Date: | 2023–05–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:osfxxx:r35bz&r=dcm |
| By: | Khuc, Quy Van; Nguyen, An Thinh; Ha, Truong Thu; Dang, Thao; Tien, Nguyen Dinh; Ha, Nguyen Thi Vinh; Thuy, Pham Thu; , Le Khanh Cuong; Do, Uyen; Nguyen, Hien |
| Abstract: | This study investigates Vietnamese citizens’ participation in plastic waste treatment and environment improvement. We developed and adopted a novel method (CVMM) that integrates the contingent valuation, mindsponge, and mindspongeconomics – a new type of economics to estimate and reasonate households’ financial contribution for improved plastic waste treatment in North Vietnam. CVMM analytics were used to explore 1103 observations surveyed during 2022-2023 in the North Vietnam. The empirical findings suggest that public-private partnership should be further expanded and/or strengthen to improve finance while stronger environment policy associated with environmental education should be taken to improve environmental literacy and build environmental culture, which ultimately help address plastic waste and environmental issues in the long run. |
| Date: | 2023–05–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:osfxxx:a5xmt&r=dcm |
| By: | Kriek, Carel Johannes |
| Abstract: | Due to the extreme decimation of species worldwide, there is a need to conserve and protect more natural areas and biodiversity. A way to ensure species' survival across areas, is to rewild a protected area or nature reserve by reintroducing regionally extinct fauna and flora, or removing invasive species. In developing countries, these protected areas are generally underfunded and underdeveloped, and therefore may have limited capacity to conserve the wildlife, and/or rewild the park to its previous natural state. This study utilised a discrete choice experiment to determine the preferences and ‘appreciative value’ tourists place on different natural characteristics of the park, in the context of rewilding. This study analysed the responses of 288 tourists from Mokala National Park in the Northern Cape, South Africa, using online questionnaires. The respondent's preferences were drawn from the completed questionnaires by the tourists who have visited the park since its inception in 2007. The natural characteristics ranged from (1) reintroducing carnivores such as lions or cheetahs back into the park, (2) removing non-native species, whether threatened or non-threatened, and (3) boosting endangered species populations such as roan antelope, black rhino and tsessebe. A latent class model was created to identify heterogeneity in the preferences amongst the sampled population. It was determined that there is heterogeneity and that the sampled tourists had varying preferences to rewild the national park to its previous biological state. Respondents of the four classes, strongly preferred reintroducing cheetahs back into the park above a pride of lions. All classes had significant preference for boosting the numbers of endangered black rhinos compared to the status quo. Only 11.20% of the respondents wanted to completely rewild the park by removing the non-native species and reintroducing all the other species identified. Thus, 88.20% of respondents did not support removing the non-native species regardless of their status, either threatened (sable antelope) or non-threatened (impala, nyala and waterbuck). The results provide a basis that rewilding improvements could be initiated, and better park management policies could be implemented, to attract tourists and more successfully rewild the park . Yet, tourists had an affinity for more species diversity in the park above protecting the natural ecosystem. Further research can be done to expand on whether there is a preference for species based on their status, such as being endangered, iconic, carnivore, or megafauna. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy |
| Date: | 2023–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:cmpart:334753&r=dcm |