Since the 1980s New Zealand has pursued neo-classical or market-based policies with a particular fervour. Market-based options are seen by resource management decision makers as essential frameworks for efficiently allocating resources, an approach that continues to support the view of the inherent dominance of Western knowledge. This is particularly concerning, given that Māori (the indigenous people of New Zealand), have an important role to play in New Zealand resource management and perceive their own knowledge systems have been marginalised. The primary goal of this thesis is to explore the validity of welfare economics when seeking to measure quantitatively Mātauranga Māori or Māori views of the environment through the contingent valuation method. A contingent valuation study is carried out using three separate samples drawn from the general Māori population in Auckland city, a hāpu/sub-tribe indigenous to the Auckland isthmus, and drivers of motor vehicles in Auckland city. Data collection modes include a postal survey and face-to-face interviews. This thesis challenges the validity of political-legal ethnicity constructs to measure Mātauranga Māori. The search for a central tendency will lead to biased, misleading and inaccurate results. The thesis also challenges the validity of contingent valuation to produce true economic measures and to measure and identify Mātauranga Māori. Despite advances in analytical techniques, economic efficiency measures are always deficient, given the difficulty of capturing and anticipating all impacts and valuing them appropriately. Mātauranga Māori is derived from a Māori epistemology and should be considered or analysed with primary reference to this body of knowledge. Economic analysis is only one important cog in the machinery of resource management policy. Given that an economist's contribution to local and regional resource management is most valuable when focusing on the economic efficiency of the proposed resource allocation, it is appropriate that other perspectives such as Mātauranga Māori be considered.

Vid användning av metoden contingent valuation erhålls ofta olika resultat beroende på sättet respondenterna frågas på. Tidigare studier har visat att binära frågor leder till en högre estimering av betalningsviljan än öppna frågor, samt att skillnaden mellan dem är lägre vid användning av privata varor än vid kollektiva varor. Uppsatsens undersökning är ett steg för att förbättra förståelsen inom detta område. Syftet är att undersöka om de estimerade betalningsviljorna, härledda från uppsatsens experiment, inte skiljer sig signifikant åt då man använder sig av öppna och binära frågor vid utvalda privata varor. Resultat av t-test, där de binära svaren är justerade från anomalier, visar att de estimerade betalningsviljorna inte skiljer sig signifikant åt för sju av uppsatsens varor. Resultatet visar vidare att de estimerade betalningsviljorna skiljer sig signifikant åt för fem av uppsatsens varor. Vid dessa är den estimerade betalningsviljan högre vid de öppna frågorna. Detta anses bero på problem med bias.

This study focuses on the feasibilities of Marine Recreational Fishing at Hsiao- Liu-Chiu Island by presenting its resource distribution and discussing the current fishing business conditions around the island. The current situations of local re- creational fishing businesses are evaluated by SWOT analysis. Tourists who visit the island are surveyed as research subject. Through questionnaires and field recreation activity investigation, this study demonstrates various possible development of re- creational fishing. The conceptual framework of this study is based on a non- marketing method - Contingent Valuation Method (CVM) - to analyze collected data. The method has estimated the economical value of Hsiao-Liu-Chiu Island for future recreation activities with the willingness-to-pay (WTP) among the visiting tourists. A proper managerial and administrative system is also suggested in order to bring optimal performance in terms of economical value and resource application for the island's fishermen and tourists. According to the data collected: 70% of tourists are willingly to participate sport fishing; 90% would like to try recreational cage. And under CVM estimation, the WTP for sport fishing is about NT$896 per person, and NT$738 per person for recreational cage. Considering the total annual tourist population visiting Hsiao-Liu- Chiu Island, sport fishing may generates about NT$93,000,000 economical value annually, and about NT$98,000,000 for recreational cage. At the end, this research also provide suggestions on related management strategies and directions for the fishermen, cage owners, and local fishery organization

Food waste is one of an organic waste and contains the value of recycling and reusing. EPA shows that there are almost the amount of 4500 tons food wastes which is about 36~64% in households in Taiwan everyday. Therefore, if food wastes could be reused again, not only greatly reducing the amount of waste, decreasing the problem of odor from progressing food wastes, but also increasing the using year of landfills and incinerators. Furthermore, it can develop fully the value of multiple reusing in recycling. The study is forced on questionnaires for the residents of the city of Kaohsiung and Taichung, to know the present of recycling of food waste and its difficulty in executing a strategy. Conferring the willingness to pay and the willingness to accept of food waste recovery and if the price is different or not by Contingent Valuation Method (CVM), and moreover evaluating the potential benefit. The results of the study are as following: there are conspicuous difference in ¡§if doing something about recovery¡¨ ¡§the way of recovery¡¨ and ¡§if see any inspectors examine the classification of refuse¡¨. The most difficulties of recovery food waste in both cities are ¡§its odor and breed mosquito and fly easily¡¨ and ¡§not knowing clearly what materials should be recovered or not¡¨. About the price of the willingness to pay and the willingness to accept, the major answer shows ¡§No, I would not.¡¨ from this questionnaires. On the other hand, answers of ¡§Yes, I would like.¡¨ all hope that the pay less is better and the compensation more is better. The price of the willingness to pay of Kaohsiung residents is NT$ 41.8 dollars, and Taichung residents is NT$ 45.3 dollars. Otherwise, the higher environmental conscious the Kaohsiung residents have, the higher willing to pay. At the same time, the difficulty of recovery food waste is low comparatively. In addition, ¡§occupation¡¨ ¡§family revenue per month¡¨ ¡§cooking per week¡¨ have effect on the price of the willingness to pay and the willingness to accept. In the result of regression, some of variable parameters could affect the price of the willingness to pay. It maybe provides society for reference according the benefit in the estimating of regression. Therefore, the study hopes to provide the decision-maker more clear environmental and economical information through evaluate and analyze the willingness of pay of food waste. Furthermore, it maybe help the government to make a future policy in order to practice the food waste recovery indeed and carry out the target of reducing the amount of waste and resources recovering for a sustainable resources of food waste.

Numerous studies have shown a discrepancy between how much an individual will accept to give up an object and how much an individual will pay to acquire the same good. This discrepancy is more commonly known as the endowment effect. Although scholars have generated a vast literature demonstrating the existence of the endowment effect, the underlying psychological mechanisms that account for this phenomenon remain a source of controversy. In the following dissertation, two different psychological processes are proposed to account for the WTP/WTA discrepancy: the use of a bargaining script and cognitive engagement through object interaction. Experiment 1 explores how the use of a bargaining schema affects buyers' and sellers' valuations of a mug. Experiment 2 examines the role object interaction plays in an individual's decisions about an object's value. Each of these studies presents new data that provide novel insights into the potential psychological processes that underlie the endowment effect. / text

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This dissertation addresses issues in non-market valuation related to preference uncertainty and to the divergence between willingness to accept (WTA) and willingness to pay (WTP) in contingent valuation method. The contributions are two fold. First, the dissertation contributes to development in non-market valuation by comparing emerging approaches addressing preference uncertainty in the standard contingent valuation framework and by introducing a promising approach, the fuzzy random utility maximization model. Further, the study provides empirical support for the observed divergence between WTA and WTP using a simultaneous equation regression model. Second, the dissertation provides policy implications. The non-market valuation model was calibrated with a survey of western Canadian landowners in 2000 to determine their willingness to accept compensation for planting trees to mitigate climate change. WTA values were then used to analyze the cost effectiveness of sequestering carbon by converting agricultural land to forestry. While estimates of WTA are less than foregone agricultural values, average costs of creating carbon credits still exceed their projected value under a C02-emissions trading scheme. Another results from the survey of Nevada ranchers that asked about WTP for public forage and WTA compensation to part with grazing rights indicate that ranch size, public grazing allotment, financial distress, and long term commitment to ranching are all significant influences on the disparity between WTA and WTP, which gives valuable information to ranch policy.

In Cuba, the act of growing flood in the city has become a way of life. Since the beginning of the "Special Period in Time of Peace", brought about by the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989, Cubans have engaged in many forms of urban agriculture (UA) to cope with the food crisis affecting the Island. In Havana, the popular garden movement occupies 8% of total urban land in agriculture (3.4% of urban land) and is practiced by 18,000 gardeners who produce vegetables and fruit, and raise small livestock to increase food security and generate income. The purpose of this study was to provide estimates of the user benefits of UA, as well as qualitative and quantitative information related do this activity. The contingent valuation method (CVM) was used to elicit users' willingness to pay (WTP) for the land they use, that is currently provided at no charge by the stale. The average WTP was estimated at 23.5 pesos/1000 m2/month under current conditions and 34.4 pesos/1000 m2/month with improvements in water and anti-theft services. These amounts represent about 11% and 14% of monthly household income, respectively. Aggregate WTP for popular gardens in the city of Havana was estimated to be 6.88 million pesos/year (344,000 $US) and 10.07 million pesos/year (503,500 $US) with the proposed improvements. The study has produced important results that give an indication of the use and non-use value of UA for gardeners of Havana. Results also suggest that CVM is a non-market valuation technique that can be successfully applied in Cuba, and can provide information to be integrated in cast-benefit analysis frameworks that assess the importance of UA.

Wetland loss is a concern in Canada, with significant loss in urban and agricultural areas. Due to their provision of ecological goods and services - water quality improvement, carbon sequestration, flood and erosion control and biodiversity - wetlands are an important natural resource to conserve. A stated preference CVM survey was designed to estimate the non-market values of wetland in the prairie pothole region of Manitoba. This included information on benefits and costs associated with wetland restoration, a referendum portion and a debriefing section. A rigorous design procedure was followed that included several public focus groups and pre-tests. Results from 1,980 individuals indicate that respondents are willing to pay to retain and restore wetlands. Conservative willingness to pay estimates placed between $290 (retention) and $360 (full restoration) per household per year. Aggregated to the entire province over a five year period, this increases to approximately $600 and $730 million, respectively. / Agricultural and Resource Economics

Coral reefs are a vital resource in the low-island Republic of Maldives, where the sustainable use of these resources is central to the continued economic success of the country's two largest sectors: tourism and fisheries. This recognition has led to numerous reef conservation and protection activities, including the establishment of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). As in many MPAs of the world, those in the Maldives exist only as paper parks: areas protected on paper but not in practice. Despite general recognition of the importance of reef resources, insufficient funds are allocated by government to implement these parks. This situation is compounded by the absence of specific information and detailed understanding by policy makers of the true value and economic benefits of reef resources. This thesis examines the an economic valuation of improved management of MPAs in the Maldives using Dhigali Haa, an MPA in Baa Atoll, Maldives, as a case study. A contingent valuation survey to elicit the willingness to pay of tourists visiting Baa Atoll to see improved management at the MPA was used in estimating the potential benefits. In addition, local community consultations were conducted to understand local perceptions of MPAs and their effectiveness, and to develop a feasible improved management scenario. The local consultations confirmed that Dhigali Haa was not effectively managed, leading to continued illegal use and degradation of the reef. The results of the CV survey revealed support from tourists visiting Baa Atoll to pay for improved management of Dhigali Haa. A one-off conservation fee per visit for all tourists visiting Baa Atoll was preferred over a user fee solely for divers visiting Dhigali Haa. The estimate for the mean WTP for the conservation fee was US$35±5 compared to a mean WTP of US$15±5 for the user fee. Comparisons between the cost of implementing improved management and the benefits gained from tourist fees showed that a conservation fee would be more beneficial than a user fee. The estimated net present value for funding the improved management via a conservation fee was US$8.65 million.