This research examines a new methodology for prospectively estimating the willingness of travelers to use a toll road by combining travel time saved with the income of the prospective customer base. The purpose of the research is to facilitate network level planning by allowing some reasonable predictions of acceptable toll rates from readily available data and estimation techniques. Methods of estimating user benefit resulted in simulated distributions of value of user time. Values of time are linked to census tract income data for the user population to produce value of time as a percentage of income as an indicator. As relevant literature acknowledges the tendency toward increased toll road usage at higher income levels, it is hypothesized that linking estimates of value of time directly to household income would produce a more useful indicator of the travel market than do conventional indicators. Techniques for prospectively estimating the travelshed of a toll road are compared with the actual travelshed, as reflected in user home census tracts, as a means of evaluating the efficacy of those techniques in estimating the market area of a prospective toll road. Results show that considering value of time as a percentage of census tract median income provides an improved portrayal of the toll road market, as usage of the toll road increases with increasing income. Using census tract median income as the income parameter has shortcomings, in that it produces anomalous results at very low population levels. Of the two methods of estimating the travelshed, the visual estimation approach was not satisfactory, leaving the analyst to use select link analyses instead.

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

Economic aspects of household recycling behavior and attitudes in City of Bryan are examined to improve solid waste management policies in the city. Using survey data collected by mail and personal interviews, residents’ attitudes towards solid waste management are analyzed, in general, and specifically, the factors influencing recycling behavior examined using logistic regression. In addition, three alternative policies are presented to respondents. First, support for an additional drop-off recycling center (Policy I) is examined. Second, WTP for two different recycling programs, curbside recycling service (Policy II), and curbside recycling with a drop-off recycling center (Policy III), as a function of socio-economic factors thought to influence WTP are computed using contingent valuation method, an indirect valuation tool. Finally, preference for a particular policy among the three alternatives presented to the residents of Bryan is explored. Because of the different data collection modes and assumptions on the bid prices two logit models are estimated to examine recycling behavior, and Policy I and two multinomial logit models for the most preferred policy, whereas four logit models are estimated for Policy II and III. The estimated models are similar both within the Policies and between the Policies in terms of the affects of variables, significance of coefficients, and consistency with previous studies indicating a potential set of factors that can be used to explain WTP for recycling services. Bryan residents that are female, white, employed, have higher incomes, have children, own a house, and are self-perceived environmentalists tend to recycle more. Similarly, males, nonwhites, older respondents, students, non-environmentalists and non-recyclers are more likely to support an additional drop-off center. WTP for Policy II is positively influenced by males, whites, respondents who are employed, low-income respondents, environmentalists, non-recyclers, and those who support Policy I. In comparison, WTP for Policy III is positively influenced by females, whites, respondents who are employed, younger respondents, environmentalists, non-recyclers, and those who support Policy I. In the case of both Policies I and II, the bid price negatively influences WTP as expected. While the WTP for Policy II is slightly higher than the estimated cost of a curbside recycling service ($2.50), the WTP for Policy III is lower than the estimated cost. No consistent pattern emerges across most of the coefficients and the four possible alternatives, three proposed policies and the current situation. However, probabilities computed using the multinomial logit results is the highest for Policy II, followed by either Policy III or no change to the existing solid waste management policy.

The city of Austin in recent years has undertaken a number of planning initiatives to guide future development in the rapidly-growing urban area. What has emerged is a clear commitment to a broad definition of sustainability that includes environmental, economic, and social sustainability among both policy makers and the public. The city of Austin has made great strides towards its goal of becoming a model city for sustainability, but it still faces many challenges. The long-term sustainability of Texas construction jobs is threatened by declining wages, dangerous working conditions, and few employment-based benefits. To help address these challenges, the Workers Defense Project (WDP), a local community-based organization dedicated to improving working conditions for Austin’s low-wage workers, has partnered with industry and community stakeholders to create the Premier Community Builders (PCB) certification program. Certification programs, which require businesses to meet minimum set of standards in exchange for a seal or trademark that publicizes their commitment to corporate social responsibility, have become a popular tool in recent years for improving conditions in a variety of industries. Implementing a certification program, however, often drives up costs associated with adopting more sustainable practices and is highly dependent upon consumers’ willingness to pay a price premium for the certified product. The purpose of this research is to explore consumer willingness to pay among downtown Austin residents and tourists for PCB certification. This exploratory study utilizes a contingent valuation survey as the primary instrument to determine whether or not downtown Austin consumers are willing to pay more for PCB certified construction and identify any demographic or identity-related factors associated with downtown consumers’ willingness to pay for PCB certification. / text

Mass customization (MC) constitutes a promising strategy for companies which aim to provide products which are better adapted to individual customers' aesthetic and functional preferences. Drawing on commodity theory, we argue that the perceived uniqueness of a self-designed product is a second driver of utility in MC. We find that in addition to the significant effect of aesthetic and functional fit, the perceived uniqueness of a self-designed product (1) contributes independently to the utility a customer experiences, and (2) that this effect is moderated by the consumer's need for uniqueness. In product categories which can serve this counterconformity motive for onsumers, this suggests that MC toolkits should be constructed with the objective of facilitating the creation of unique products as well as providing affirmative feedback that this uniqueness has been achieved. (authors' abstract)

The use of functional foods by individuals to address health issues has become increasingly common. Pomegranate fruits and other pomegranate products contain phytochemicals, including several antioxidants that may have benefits when consumed as a functional food. The production of pomegranates in the United States is concentrated in California; yet pomegranates can be grown successfully in other regions. The purpose of this study was two-fold: 1) to address the market potential and consumer preferences for pomegranate fruits and other pomegranate products in Texas and 2) to address issues of experimental auction design and estimation in regards to novel products and health benefits of food products. A nonhypothetical experimental procedure was developed that combined preference rankings with a uniform nth-price auction to elicit preferences and willingness-to-pay (WTP) for pomegranate fruit products. Demographic and behavioral characteristics were collected from a representative sample of subjects in the Bryan-College Station area of Texas. Subjects submitted baseline preference rankings and bids on six pomegranate products and a control fruit product, all with the same retail price. Most participants had never purchased or tasted a pomegranate product. Additional information on the pomegranate products was provided in three forms: tasting information, health and nutrition information, and anti-cancer information. Subjects had the greatest WTP for the control product, followed by the juice product, followed by the ready-to-eat products; the whole pomegranate fruits had the lowest WTP. The preference rankings indicated the same order of preferences for the baseline round, but the ranking of the juice product dropped and the ranking of the ready-to-eat and Texas whole fruits rose when additional information was provided. Estimations of the WTP were done using random-effects tobit models and mixed linear models on the full bids and individual changes in bids. Unengaged bidders and bid censoring were addressed. Demographic variables were typically not predictors of WTP with the exception of previous purchases of pomegranates and household size. There were differences in WTP across information treatments, with tasting information having a greater effect than either health and nutrition information or anti-cancer information. Providing a reference price also increased WTP. Preference rankings were estimated using a rank-ordered logit and a mixed rank-ordered logit model. There was an interaction effect of each information treatment with the product characteristics, indicating that studies of effects of information treatments on preferences are not generalizable across products. There was divergence in the results for the preference rankings from the results of the experimental auction; preference rankings and bids gave different results for the same products.

No description available.

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

Public utility services have been plagued with problems of low tariff and low willingness-to-pay by consumers. In many countries, tariff setting has been a political decision with governments reluctant to antagonise the electorate. Low pricing leads to inadequate revenue streams and further deterioration in service levels which in turn aggravates the revenue collection problem. Even with the already low tariffs, many consumers are not willing to pay the charges. / Maintaining tariffs at a low level sets a low reference price in the minds of consumers further dampening their willingness-to-pay. Low tariffs also create a perception that public service provision is not a serious problem which can be solved rather easily and relatively cheaply. This perception has a negative effect on consumers when tariffs are raised resulting in them resisting upward tariff revisions. This research project seeks to model consumer willingness-to-pay behavioural intentions by identifying the factors that affect their perception of price and service. The objective of this model is to enable service providers to recognise these factors and plan their strategies to focus on positively influencing them. By such strategic planning and action, service providers and governments could attempt to change the perception of consumers and increase their willingness-to pay a fair price for public goods. / Setting prices for public goods using contingent valuation and willingness-to-pay surveys have little practical use as they inevitably result in low prices due to strategic manipulation and bias by respondents. There has been very little research focussed on modelling such behavioural intentions for public goods. Due to this, a literature review on the psychological aspects of the pricing and willingness-to-purchase of private goods is thus conducted to develop the conceptual model for public goods. / The literature review indicated that the key factors affecting consumers' price perception were reference price, information and justification of pricing practices, and information on service provision and service performance. It is proposed that these key factors could also be applicable in price and service perception formation and in moderating reactions to current and future price increases of public goods. / Several existing conceptual models for private and public goods were reviewed in developing the research model. Although none of them could be used fully, they formed the basis for formulating a new conceptual model and item development for the survey instrument. This conceptual model was built by defining the relationships of the key factors underpinning price and service perception and willingness-to-pay for public goods. / A field survey using a personally administered questionnaire on sewerage services was conducted. The data collected was used to validate the conceptual model using structural equation modelling (SEM). / The results indicate that reference price plays an important role in consumers' price perception of the public good. The consumer's reference price can be shifted by providing adequate justification of the price and disseminating information on service provision and performance. Greater emphasis is thus needed by service providers on communication strategies to justify prices and present service performance information in a manner readily understood by consumers. / Thesis (DBA(DoctorateofBusinessAdministration))--University of South Australia, 2006.

Alcohol is a complex good which is ingrained within the social fabric of Australian culture. This is even more apparent within rural communities which are considered to have higher levels of risky alcohol consumption. While alcohol provides pleasure to many, it has devastating effects for others. Not only are individuals themselves affected, but also their families and the community at large. This thesis considers a number of the economic aspects associated with alcohol consumption in rural Australia. This thesis was completed in conjunction with a larger ongoing project: Alcohol Action in Rural Communities (AARC), which is a cost-benefit analysis of community-wide interventions to reduce alcohol-related harm in rural Australia. Given the study involves 20 rural communities in New South Wales, Australia; much of the analysis is centred around data collected from these communities. This thesis examines the amount and patterns of alcohol consumption, some of the associated harms, the value of reducing these harms, plus professionals’ and the public’s opinions on interventions, viewed as an optimal solution to reduce alcohol-related harm for the communities within this study. First, those factors which affect individuals’ decisions regarding how much alcohol to consume are examined through econometric modelling of the demand for alcohol. Moreover, a theoretical model is derived whereby individuals choose both the intensity and frequency of alcohol consumption in order to maximise their utility. This is then used to examine those factors that affect the relationship between intensity and frequency of alcohol consumption for individuals within the 20 communities of the study. Secondly, the impact that this alcohol consumption has in terms of the effect on morbidity, crime and traffic accidents within these 20 communities is analysed. The relationship between selfreported quality of life using the EQ5D (a quality of life instrument) and self-reported risky alcohol use are examined using ordered Probit and Tobit models. Also, the relationship between community levels of risky drinking and crime and traffic accidents that occur in alcohol-related times is analysed, controlling for the underlying level of crime in the community by using the rate of incidents that occur in non-alcohol-related times. It is found that rural communities in Australia are experiencing a sizeable amount of potentially avoidable harm due to risky alcohol use. Thirdly, the value of reducing alcohol-related harm in these communities, in terms of the amount households are willing to pay for these reductions, is estimated using contingent valuation methods. Individuals’ willingness to pay for a percentage reduction in alcohol-related harm is estimated using both a postal questionnaire for the 20 communities, plus a face-to-face questionnaire conducted in two of these communities. The face-to-face questionnaire is also used to conduct a double-bounded dichotomous choice experiment, to investigate the willingness of households to pay for a reduction in a number of different types of alcohol-related harm. Finally, the views on the optimal policy options to reduce alcohol-related harm for rural communities in Australia are examined for both professionals and the general public. A sample of drug and alcohol (D&A) professionals were asked to allocate a budget of $100,000 to a number of interventions in order to reduce alcohol-related harm in a hypothetical rural community. The D&A professionals most commonly selected interventions include training general practitioners (GPs), targeting high-risk groups, developing a harm-reduction code of practice, expanding social work services and the training of emergency department staff. Additionally, individuals from the general public were asked via a postal questionnaire to allocate a percentage of total funds to eight intervention areas in order to reduce alcohol-related harm in their communities. The top three intervention areas given the most funding, on average, by the public were school-based interventions, educational messages in the media, and greater police enforcement. There is no doubt that alcohol consumption causes a substantial amount of harm for rural communities within Australia. This thesis has provided information to inform the development of interventions tailored to specific communities and has derived estimates which can be used to help evaluate the cost-benefit of these interventions. There is still additional research to be done in order to obtain more accurate estimates of the exact effect alcohol has on rural communities and thus comprehensively evaluate which interventions are likely to be the most cost-effective in reducing this harm.