An evidence-based policy debate about future fuel demand requires reliable estimates for fuel price elasticities. Such predictions are often based on revealed preference (RP) data. However, this procedure will only yield reliable results in the absence of severe structural discontinuities. In order to overcome this potential limitation we used a situational stated preference (SP) survey to estimate the response to hypothetical fuel price changes beyond the scope of previous observations. We elicit fuel price elasticities for price increases up to four Euros per liter and find that the situational approach predicts the actual responses to previously observed fuel price changes very well. We conclude that applying a situational approach is particularly useful, if behavioral predictions for unprecedented (non-monetary) policy interventions or supply side shocks are of interest that go beyond the reach of standard RP approaches.

The worldwide market for organic foods is growing fast, but New Zealand meat producers have been slow to respond. Specifically, New Zealand producers have little or no organic lamb products for export or domestic sale. Part of the reason for this hesitancy to meet demand with supply is that the nature of the demand and consumer willingness to pay for the product is not well understood. The purpose of this study is to investigate New Zealand organic food consumers’ attitudes towards organic food and production methods and to evaluate consumer willingness to pay for an organic lamb product. Data for this study was collected using computer aided personal interviewing (CAPI) in supermarkets and speciality stores in Christchurch and Wellington. The study questioned consumers about their consumption habits, attitudes towards organic food and production methods and presented choice modelling scenarios to test willingness to pay for different attributes of lamb. Factor analysis is used to group the 12 attitudinal questions into three factors which were then placed into a two step cluster analysis to create consumer segments. Choice modelling was then used to measure consumer preferences for the tested attributes of lamb. From the factor and cluster analysis three distinct consumer segments were found and labelled as Committed Organic Seekers, Convenience Organic Consumers and Incidental Organic Consumers. These labels reflect each group’s organic consumption habits and attitudes towards organic food. The choice modelling results show that there is a willingness to pay for organic lamb. The three identified consumer groups state they would pay a premium of 61%, 44% and 26% respectively for organic lamb over standard pasture raised lamb. This paper gives an insight into consumer attitudes and preferences towards a product that could provide a way for New Zealand farmers to increase their returns. It contributes to the body of knowledge about the likely consumer profiles of regular consumers of organic food. There are only a few other studies that have attempted to measure consumer attitudes and willingness to pay for organic meat, however, the author is not aware of any published example of a study that has specifically investigated demand for organic lamb anywhere in the world. The study provides information about stated willingness to pay for five different attributes of lamb; this information should be of value in assisting the industry by showing which product offerings are likely to generate the highest sale price.

In March 2002 the Western Australian Minister for Environment and Heritage adopted a policy framework to guide investment decisions on salinity management. Promoted as Western Australia's Salinity Investment Framework (or the SIF), it offered a set of principles for prioritising investment decisions that were generally grounded in economic theory. This represented a significant landmark in terms of the government's appreciation of the scale of salinity problem and its acknowledgement that a full turnaround in the situation was beyond the reach of both volunteers and the public purse. The evolution of the SIF policy, including an initial trial in the Avon Basin, provided an opportunity to evaluate pre-policy processes; observe policy on the run; and test stakeholder reactions to the investment principles embodied in the the SIF, as well as their reaction to its implied outcomes. The intention of the study was to highlight any barriers standing in the way of effectively implementing a policy to prioritise investments in salinity management and identify any novel approaches developed in an attempt to overcome them. The evaluation was multifaceted to incorporate retrospective and prospective modes of inquiry. The retrospective investigation involved the construction of a series of policy narratives using evidence from notes and minutes taken at SIF meetings, as well as other formal and informal documents. It systematically captured the influence of key people, events and decisions on the SIF up until June 2008. This evaluation highlighted the impact of (1) policy entrepreneurs; (2) time lags; (3) vertical silos, and (4) priority setting hierarchies. The prospective investigation involved the execution of a community survey featuring attitudinal questions, paired comparisons and a choice modelling experiment. The survey involved 269 personal interviews with rural landholders, townspeople and landcare officers across the Avon Catchment. It captured perceptions towards past funding strategies and proposals for future allocations and explored the nature of priority setting decisions in relation to trade-offs between: (1) the mix of assets protected; (2) the degree of risk; (3) the level of community involvement in the decision, and (4) the distribution of benefits. This evaluation highlighted the importance of (1) incentives and disincentives for change; (2) awareness of priority setting concepts; (3) the capacity of regional bodies; and (4) elements perceived to be crucial in priority setting.

La présente thèse de doctorat a pour objectif d'examiner la place et l'importance de l'accessibilité dans les modèles de choix de localisation des ménages et des entreprises. Ces modèles sont deux éléments clés de la conception et la construction des modèles d'interaction transport – usages du sol. Il s’agit, plus précisément, d’analyser l’effet de divers choix méthodologiques d’un point de vue théorique et empirique afin de donner des réponses à des interrogations tout aussi théoriques, méthodologiques, empiriques et politiques. Pour y répondre, quatre articles de recherche constituent le travail principal de la thèse. Les quatre travaux produits ont pour objet l’étude de l’aire urbaine lyonnaise et utilisant des modèles de choix discrets pour expliquer les choix de localisation.Dans le premier article, l’objectif est d’analyser l’effet de la mesure d’accessibilité sur les résultats du modèle de choix de localisation résidentielle. Alors que l'accessibilité a toujours été importante au niveau théorique, certains travaux relativisent son importance au niveau empirique, considérant que d'autres attribues de localisation sont plus influentes. Cet article analyse si différentes méthodes de mesure de l'accessibilité peuvent conduire à des résultats divergents. La conclusion principale estque l'accessibilité est une variable indispensable pour les modèles de choix localisation résidentielle et ce quelle que soit la mesure. Sans la variable de l’accessibilité, le modèle donne des résultats incohérents.Dans le deuxième article, l’objectif est d’analyser les différences de préférences en matière d’accessibilité entre les entreprises nouvellement créées et les entreprises qui se relocalisent. L'accessibilité est l'un des facteurs les plus importants du choix de localisation d’une entreprise. Cependant, même si cela semble intuitif, les travaux analysant les différences entre les créations et les relocalisations sont peu nombreux. En utilisant des données pour huit secteurs d’activités économiques et en confrontant les créations aux relocalisations, les résultats démontrent que l’effet de l’accessibilité diffère d’un secteur économique à l’autre. Cette différence dépend du type d’activité économique du secteur mais aussi du type d’accessibilité.Dans le troisième article, l’objectif est d’évaluer la différence d’impact de l’accessibilité sur les choix de localisation des entreprises du secteur des services aux entreprises. En distinguant les services entre Front Office et Back Office selon leur fonction dans un modèle de choix de localisation, les résultats démontrent que l'effet de l'accessibilité diffère d'un sous-secteur économique à l'autre. Dans le quatrième papier, l'objectif est d'analyser l'évolution temporelle des préférences en matièred'accessibilité des choix résidentiels. De plus en plus de ménages choisissent d’acheter une résidence en banlieue, profitant ainsi de l’augmentation de l’accessibilité. En opposition, les jeunes ménages, appelés aussi «millennials», choisissent de louer dans les zones centrales. Distinguant les locataires des propriétaires, l'analyse des élasticités de périodes 1999, 2006 et 2013 confirme l'intuition initiale qui est que les locataires sont plus sensibles à l'accessibilité à l'emploi. Plus important encore, lapréférence des locataires évolue et croit au cours de la période analysée, alors que celle des propriétaires évolue de façon inverse. Nous suggérons aux planificateurs et aux concepteurs de modèles d’intégrer la dynamique temporelle dans leurs modèles afin d'anticiper au mieux les tendances futures. / This PhD thesis has as objective to examine the place and the importance of accessibility in location choice models of households and firms, two key construction elements of Land-Use Transport Interaction models. More specifically, the aim is to analyse the effect of various methodological choices from a theoretical and empirical point of view in order to give some answers to theoretical, methodological, empirical and policy issues. Having as a case study the urban area of Lyon and using discrete models to explain the location choices of households and firms, four research papers comprise the main work of this dissertation.In the first paper, the objective was to analyse the effect of the accessibility measure on the results of residential location choice model. While accessibility has always been important at theoretical level, at empirical level, some works questioned its importance, considering other location characteristics as more influential. This paper examines whether different accessibility measurement methods can lead to divergent results. The conclusion is that accessibility is an indispensable variable for residential location choice models and the conclusion remains the same whatever is the measure. Without accessibility, the model gives inconsistent results. Complex accessibility measures give better results, especially for predictions, but simple measures are also relevant for residential location choices modelling.In the second paper, the objective was to analyse the differences of accessibility preferences between new and relocating firms. Accessibility is one of the most important attributes of a location choice of an economic establishment. However, even if it seems intuitive, works analysing any differences between creations and relocations are scarce. Using data from eighteconomic sectors and comparing creations to relocations, the results demonstrate that the effect of accessibility differs between in the same economic sector.In the third paper, the objective was to evaluate the difference of the accessibility impact on the location choices of firms of the business services sector. Distinguishing between Front Office and Back Office business services in a location choice model, the results demonstrate that the effect of accessibility differs between economic subsectors.In the fourth paper, the objective was to analyse the temporal evolution of the preferences for accessibility for residential choices. More and more people choose to buy a residence at the suburbs taking advantage of the accessibility increase. At the same time, young households, the so called millennials, choose to rent in central areas. Distinguishing between renters andowners, the analysis of the elasticities for 1999, 2006 and 2013 confirm the initial intuition. Renters were always more sensitive to accessibility to employment. More importantly, renters show an increasing preference for accessibility during the analysis period, while the owners the opposite. We suggest that planners and model developers should integrate temporal dynamics into their models in order to anticipate better future tendencies.

Eine zentrale Aufgabe des Marketings ist es, die Präferenzen von Konsumenten zu verstehen und die Heterogenität dieser aufzudecken. Eine Reihe kritischer Entscheidungen, z.B. bei der Neuproduktentwicklung, der Marktsegmentierung und dem Targeting oder der Preisgestaltung, beruhen auf der genauen Einschätzung der Konsumentenpräferenzen. Die Marketingliteratur hat sich bisher auf die Entwicklung von Modellen und Schätzverfahren konzentriert, die es ermöglichen, die Heterogenität von Konsumentenpräferenzen aufzudecken. Konsumenten unterscheiden sich jedoch auch in der Art und Weise, wie sie Kaufentscheidungen treffen und welche verfügbaren Informationen sie nutzen. Das Ziel dieser Dissertation ist es, unser Verständnis für die Unaufmerksamkeit der Konsumenten gegenüber Produkteigenschaften bezüglich Entscheidungen zu verbessern. Es geht darum, 1) die Verbreitung einer solchen Unaufmerksamkeit in verschiedenen Kontexten zu untersuchen, 2) die Methoden, die ein solches Verhalten explizit berücksichtigen, zu untersuchen und zu erweitern, 3) potenzielle Verzerrungen in Parametern zu verstehen und 4) Implikationen für das Management abzuleiten. Die Ergebnisse aus einer umfassenden Reihe von Anwendungen legen nahe, dass Konsumenten in verschiedenen Kontexten (z.B. Produktkategorien) und Settings (z.B. von hoher oder niedriger Komplexität) eine Menge an verfügbaren Informationen bezüglich Produkteigenschaften ignorieren. Zweitens, Entscheidungsmodelle, die ein solches Verhalten explizit berücksichtigen und zusätzlich weitere Daten wie z.B. Eye-Tracking nutzen, zu einem besseren In- und Out-of-Sample-Fit führen. Drittens führt die Missachtung eines solchen Verhaltens zu Verzerrungen, deren Richtung und Größe von der Art des Merkmals (d.h., ob eine bestimmte Richtung der Präferenzen erwartet werden kann) und dem Anteil der Konsumenten, die dieses Merkmal ignorieren, abhängt. Infolgedessen kann es dazu kommen, dass Manager keine optimalen Preis- und Targeting-Entscheidungen treffen. / A central task of marketing is understanding consumer preferences and uncovering consumer heterogeneity. A range of critical decisions, e.g., new product development, market segmentation and targeting, or pricing, rest upon accurate estimation of consumer preferences. Marketing literature has mainly focused on the development of models and estimation procedures that allow uncovering heterogeneity in consumer preference. However, consumers differ not only in their tastes but also in the way they make purchase decisions and the information they use. The overall objective of this dissertation is to enhance our understanding of consumers' inattention to attributes when making choices. It aims to 1) examine the prevalence of such inattention across numerous contexts and settings, 2) investigate and extend the approaches that explicitly accommodate such behavior, 3) understand potential biases that may arise, and 4) demonstrate managerial implications when such behavior is neglected. The findings from a broad set of applications suggest that consumers ignore a substantial amount of available attribute information across various contexts (e.g., product categories) and settings (e.g., of high or low complexity). Second, we establish that choice models explicitly accounting for such behavior and, additionally, leveraging supplementary data such as eye tracking, result in better in- and out-of-sample fit. Third, neglecting such behavior leads to significant biases, the direction and the magnitude of which depend on the type of the attribute (i.e., whether a particular direction of preferences can be expected) and the share of consumers ignoring this attribute. As a result, managers may make suboptimal pricing and targeting decisions.