Different management regimes consisting of range of site indices and planting densities were simulated to evaluate price premiums required for growing high-quality southern pines across the southern United States. Optimal management regimes were identified maximizing the land expectation value. Growing high-quality pines on longer rotations are economically feasible, however, forest landowners need premiums which ranged from $1.40/ton to $9.81/ton for 10-year rotation extension and increased significantly with rotation ages. In uneven-aged management, price premiums for 5-year cutting cycle extension ranged from $1.75/ton to $2.25/ton. Additionally, sawmill’s willingness-to-pay price premiums for high-quality pine sawtimber were calculated using a mail survey. Sawmills showed a considerable interest in paying price premiums which ranged from $4.22/ton to $12.98/ton. Factors affecting mean WTP price premiums were sawlog size, procurement radius, grade, mill’s capacity, and employees. These findings will help landowners in deciding whether to extend rotation ages of their forest for growing higher quality pines.

The objectives of this research were to use trained sensory panels to identify key sensory profiling characteristics of freshwater prawns, develop and test price elicitation methods using the trained panels and gather freshwater prawn pricing information. Prawns were procured through a reputable producer and delivered to the Department of Food Science, Nutrition & Health Promotion at Mississippi State University. A trained sensory panel was utilized to develop descriptive terms to express key attributes of freshwater prawns. Trained panelists evaluated both raw and cooked product forms for 40 and 83 attributes, respectively. At the end of the sensory evaluation of the products, trained panelists also completed a willingness-to-pay ballot. Results determined sensory attributes for both raw and cooked prawns and the value of the raw product form.

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Title: How the expression “in the bargain” affects the valuation of an item Level: Final assignment for bachelor’s degree in business administration  Author: Pontus Axenfalk and Markus Gustafsson Supervisor: Patrik Sörqvist Date: 2022 - June Aim: The purpose of this study is to investigate the interaction between endowment effect and product bundling. More specifically, we intend to investigate whether the size of the endowment effect in relation to a purchased product becomes larger or smaller depending on whether the product is bundled together with another product at the time of purchase. Method: The study is based on a quantitative research method with a deductive approach. An experiment was conducted where data were collected via two web-based surveys, which through a random sample generated 86 responses (43 per survey). Data were analyzed in SPSS and Microsoft Excel. Results and conclusions: Since the average value of Willingness to Accept is higher than Willingness to Pay in a product bundle in comparison with an individual purchase, the conclusion can be cautiously drawn that according to the descriptive statistics an interaction is formed between endowment effect and product bundling.Contribution of the thesis: The results of the study give us strong indications that product bundling can be used to increase consumers' perceived value of a product, which is knowledge that cannot least be applied by business economists and marketers.Suggestions for future research: We believe that it would be interesting to carry out studies where a large sample is looking for the interaction between endowment effect for the various techniques in product bundling to be able to present a result with statistical certainty more strongly. Key words: Product bundling, Endowment effect, Willingness to pay and Willingness to accept. / Titel: Hur uttrycket ”på köpet” påverkar värderingen av en vara Nivå: Examensarbete på̊ grundnivå̊ (kandidatexamen) i ämnet företagsekonomi Författare: Pontus Axenfalk och Markus Gustafsson Handledare: Patrik Sörqvist  Datum: 2022 - Juni Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka interaktionen mellan endowment effect och produktbuntning. Närmare bestämt avser vi att undersöka om storleken på endowment effect i relation till en inköpt produkt blir större eller mindre beroende på huruvida produkten bundlas tillsammans med en annan produkt vid inköpstillfället.  Metod: Studien är baserad på en kvantitativ forskningsmetod med ett deduktivt angreppssätt. Ett experiment genomfördes där data samlades in via två webbaserade enkäter, som genom ett slumpmässigt urval genererade 86 svar (43 per enkät). Data analyserades i SPSS och Microsoft Excel.  Resultat och slutsats: Baserat på att medelvärdet för Willingness to Accept är högre än Willingness to Pay vid en produktbuntning i jämförelse med ett enskilt köp kan slutsatsen försiktigt dras att enligt den deskriptiva statistiken bildas en interaktion mellan endowment effect och produktbuntning. Examensarbetets bidrag: Studiens resultat ger oss starka indikationer på att produktbuntning kan användas för att öka konsumenters upplevda värde av en produkt vilket är kunskap som inte minst går att tillämpa hos företagsekonomer och marknadsförare. Förslag till fortsatt forskning: Med vår studie i bakgrunden anser vi att det vore intressant att genomföra studier där man på ett stort urval letar efter interaktionen mellan endowment effect för de olika tekniker inom produktbuntning för att kunna presentera ett resultat som är statistiskt säkerställt. Nyckelord: Produktbuntning, endowment effect, Willingness to pay och Willingness to accept

This dissertation consists of three essays that examine consumer behavior with respect to drinking water quality issues. The first essay uses contingent valuation method to explore consumers' willingness to pay (WTP) for a hypothetical material in home drinking water infrastructure that will remain leak free. Willingness to pay is investigated using both dichotomous choice and dichotomous choice with follow-up formats using a national telephone survey of consumers. Our results indicate that consumers' concerns about future system failures and income positively affect their WTP for an improved material while satisfaction with the water quality, education and the bid amount asked negatively affect their WTP for an improved material. There are no significant differences in the determinants of WTP between respondents who have experienced problems with home water infrastructure and respondents who have not. Furthermore, the estimated mean WTP does not change significantly between the dichotomous choice questioning format and the dichotomous choice with follow-up format The second essay investigates the determinants of consumers' willingness to accept improvement programs for three drinking water issues: water quality, pinhole leaks in home plumbing infrastructure and aging public infrastructure. The research is based on a mail survey of consumers in Northern Virginia and the Maryland suburbs of Washington D.C. The analysis focuses on the relationship between information, risk perceptions and willingness to pay. Results indicate that the choice to support any of the programs is negatively affected by the cost of the proposed improvement. Consumers' risk perceptions, the external information provided in the survey and whether they read the annual report from their water utility affect their choices for investment in improvement programs. The third essay examines the effect of risk perceptions about tap water, general risk aversion and consumers' characteristics on their decision to avert drinking water risks and related expenditures. Results are based on the same survey data from the second study. The risk aversion measure is elicited using the sequence of questions employed in the National Panel Study of Income Dynamics. Results indicate that consumers' risk perceptions affect both the decision to avert and the amount spent on averting activities. However, we do not find a significant impact of risk aversion on averting behavior. In addition we find that respondents were more likely to use water treatments if they were unsatisfied with their tap water or had problems or concerns with water odor and particles. / Ph. D.

The primary objective of this dissertation is to determine Hispanic consumers’ preferences and willingness-to-pay (WTP) for grass-fed beef. Two hundred and thirty-one Hispanic consumers in four experiment sites in Virginia (Galax, Roanoke, Richmond, and Blacksburg) participated in an experimental economics laboratory procedure. Taste tests and visual evaluations were conducted to understand Hispanic consumers’ sensory preferences for grass-fed beef in comparison to conventional grain-fed beef. A contingent valuation method, Multiple Price Lists (MPL) was used to measure Hispanic consumers’ WTP for grass-fed beef. In the study, MPL was put into a non-hypothetical environment due to real products, real money, and actual transactions involved. A bivariate Probit model was estimated to determine Hispanic consumers’ visual and taste preferences for grass-fed beef and to explore the relationship between their expected and experienced quality of grass-fed beef. A two-step decision process examined Hispanic consumers’ WTP and investigated the factors influencing their valuations on grass-fed beef. Approximately 50% of Hispanic consumers sampled preferred grass-fed to conventional grain-fed beef steak and the vast majority of grass-fed preferring consumers were willing to pay a price premium for it. Hispanic consumers were able to distinguish the appearance and taste between grass-fed and conventional grain-fed beef steaks. A positive correlation between visual and taste preferences for grass-fed beef was captured. / Ph. D.

Sustainability of the soybean industry relies on the growth of new industries and the continued improvement of seeds for utilization. Grower adoption and growth of the edamame industry has been slow in part due to insufficient information on its potential profitability and marketability. As such, the first and second objectives of this thesis aimed at 1) determining production costs of hand-harvested fresh edamame enterprise and 2) exploring consumer willingness-to-pay (WTP) for fresh, local, organic, and "on-the-stalk" marketed edamame. Sucrose, raffinose, and stachyose sugars hold tremendous implications for utilization of soybean seeds in livestock, soyfood, and probiotics industries. Current sugar phenotyping methods using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) are costly and inefficient. Therefore, the third objective of this study was to develop calibrations to predict sugar content using near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy (NIRS). Results showed that labor accounted for 72% of production costs for edamame pods, which largely limits its profit potential. Mean WTP for fresh and local edamame exceeded their frozen and non-local counterparts by 94 and 88 cents, respectively. In addition, mean WTP for organic edamame exceeded non-GMO edamame by 33 cents. Pro-environmental attitudes appeared to be a consistent driver of WTP these three attributes. Meanwhile, a 40-cent discount for "on-the-stalk" edamame compared to pods indicates convenience may also be a factor in edamame marketability. Calibration development for sucrose and stachyose was successful, with R2cal, R2cv, RMSEC, and RMSECV of 0.901, 0.869, 0.516, and 0.596, and 0.911, 0.891, 0.361, and 0.405, respectively. Alternative methods should be investigated for quantification of raffinose. / Master of Science / Sustainability of the soybean industry relies on the growth of new industries and the continued improvement of seeds for utilization. Grower adoption and growth of the edamame industry has been slow in part due to insufficient information on its potential profitability and marketability. As such, the first and second objectives of this thesis aimed at 1) determining production costs of hand-harvested fresh edamame and 2) exploring relative marketing potential of fresh, local, organic, and "on-the-stalk" edamame. Sucrose, raffinose, and stachyose sugars hold tremendous implications for utilization of soybean seeds in livestock, soyfood, and probiotics industries. Current methods of quantifying sugar are costly and time inefficient. Therefore, the third objective of this study was to develop prediction models to estimate sugar content using near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy (NIRS). Results showed that labor accounted for 72% of production costs for edamame pods, which largely limits its profit potential. Fresh and local edamame showed considerable marketing potential over frozen and non-local edamame. In addition, organic edamame showed marginal marketing benefit over non-GMO. Pro-environmental attitudes were an important driver of these results. Meanwhile, on-the-stalk edamame shows poor marketing potential, likely due to preference for convenience of food preparation in the U.S. NIRS prediction models for sucrose and stachyose showed strong predictive accuracy and low error, suggesting potential for implementation. The prediction model for raffinose, however, remained poor.

Sammanfattning Titel: Billigt eller dyrt, udda eller jämt? - Hur prisprecisionseffekten påverkar Willingness to pay Nivå: Examensarbete på Grundnivå (kandidatexamen) i ämnet företagsekonomi. Författare: Lovisa Axenfalk Pettersson och Wilhelm Ericsson. Handledare: Jonas Kågström. Datum: 2018 - Maj. Syfte: Syftet är att undersöka hur prisprecisionseffekten i samband med Willingness to pay påverkar bostadstransaktioner. Metod: Kvantitativ metod, enkäter med experimentella inslag. Resultat och slutsats: Denna studies resultat visar att när det kommer till priser på bostäder, är det inte enbart priset som påverkar köpet och WTP. Gällande det marknadsförda pris som lockar flest spekulanter, bör det antingen vara avrundat pris eller just below pris. Det mest ärliga marknadsmässiga priset är avrundat pris. Ett precist pris är det utgångspris, som anses vara satt av en seriös fastighetsmäklare och visar att fastighetsmäklaren är kunnig och sätter ett seriöst pris utifrån vad bostaden faktiskt är värd. Gällande vad som leder till det högsta slutpriset, kan det vara avrundat pris, precist pris samt just below pris. Varför resultatet av slutpriset skiljer sig åt är beroende på situationen på marknaden och tillgänglig information för köparen. Examensarbetets bidrag: Denna studie har bidragit med att skapa en ökad förståelse till personer som är delaktiga i en köpprocess utifrån prisprecisionseffektens prissättningar. Vidare är bidraget att människor påverkas av tillgänglig information, vilket påverkar köparens WTP och vad köpare anser om olika priser. Med kunskap från denna studie kan köpare av bostäder få en bättre förståelse för hur det marknadsförda utgångspriset kan påverka köparens WTP av bostaden de är intresserad av att köpa och den bostadens slutpris. Förslag till fortsatt forskning: Studien fastställer att det finns flera möjligheter till fortsatt forskning. Det skulle kunna vara att studera prisprecisionseffekten i en verklig miljö. Att studera hur ankareffekten och prisprecisionseffekten påverkar varandra. Väva in andra prispåverkande faktorer än bara själva priset. Samt att vända perspektiv och utgå från säljaren istället. Nyckelord: Prisprecisionseffekten, WTP - Willingness to pay, avrundat pris, precist pris, just below pris, utgångspris och bostadstransaktioner. / Abstract Title: Cheap or expensive, odd or even? - How the price precision effect, affects willingness to pay Level: Final assignment for Bachelor Degree in Business Administration. Author: Lovisa Axenfalk Pettersson and Wilhelm Ericsson. Supervisor: Jonas Kågström. Date: 2018 - May. Aim: The aim is to further investigate how the price precision effect associated with willingness to pay affects sales of real estate transactions. Method: Quantitative method through a survey with experimental elements. Result and conclusion: The results in the study indicates, regarding prices on the housing market, that it is not only the price that affects pursues and WTP. Regarding the marketed list price, which attracts the most potential buyers, they should either be a rounded or just below price. The most honest market price is a rounded price. A list price set at a precise price, is considered to be listed from a serious real estate broker. It also indicates that the real estate broker is knowledgeable and puts a serious price based on what the residence is actually worth. To get the highest selling price, it can be all of the price precision effect prices, rounded price, precise price or just below price. Why the result of the highest selling price differ, is depending on the situation on the market and available information for the buyer. Contribution of the thesis: The contribution for this study has been to create an increased understanding about the price precision effect and its prices for the persons involved in a buying process. Furthermore, the contribution is that people are influenced by available information, affecting the buyer's WTP and what buyers consider about different prices. With knowledge from this study, buyers can gain a better understanding of how the marketed list price may affect the buyer's WTP for the real estate they are interested in buying and its final selling price. Suggestion for future research: To summarize the possibilities for future research this paper suggests; to analyze the price precision effect from the sellers point of view. To analyze the price precision effect in a real setting instead, where actual transactions are being made. To further investigate the ratio between the anchoring effect with the price precision effect, and how they affect each other. The final suggestions for future research is to involve other aspects into the price precision effect, despite only the price, because it is not only the price that affects the house buying market. Keywords: Price precision effect, WTP - willingness to pay, rounded price, precise price, just below price, list price and real estate transaction.