The diploma thesis deals with validity of direct measurement of stated willingness to pay (WTP) in the fair trade context based on two-phase measurement applied in the INESAN survey. Attention is also paid to the unit of answer to an open-ended question and to the functionality of WTP as an indicator of purchase intent. First, fair trade, the concept of WTP with focus on areas of its application, ways of measurement, critics and problems of its use are introduced from the theoretical perspective. Further, cognitive aspects of the process of answering survey questions as a way of testing the functionality of a measurement tool are analyzed. The thesis is built on a combination of two survey methods, cognitive interviews and secondary analysis of quantitative data. It concludes that measuring WTP for the purpose of capturing the value of fair trade using direct stated method of measurement is problematic as numerous risks with impact on validity of acquired data appear. Those risks concern both the particular way of measurement and the direct stated WTP measurement in general, starting with ambiguous interpretation of WTP questions for a fair trade product among respondents. The thesis also shows that answering open-ended question in the form of percentage is cognitively more demanding than in the...

Der Tod einer Person (ein Ereignis) und ihre Sterblichkeit (eine Eigenschaft) sind nicht dasselbe, hängen aber klarerweise zusammen. Angenommen der Tod einer Person ist schlecht für diese – was bedeutet dies dann für die Bewertung ihrer Sterblichkeit? Um diese Frage zu beantworten muss unterschieden werden zwischen zwei verschiedenen Arten von Sterblichkeit: Die kontingente Sterblichkeit („sterben können“) ist die dispositionale Eigenschaft eines Lebewesens unter bestimmten Umständen zu sterben. Der Tod des Lebewesens ist die Manifestation dieser Disposition. Die notwendige Sterblichkeit andererseits („sterben müssen“) ist die (Meta-)Eigenschaft eines Lebwesens eine begrenzte Lebenserwartung zu haben – das heißt, eine Disposition zu sterben zu haben, die notwendigerweise irgendwann manifestiert wird. Der werttheoretische Zusammenhang zwischen Tod und Sterblichkeit ergibt sich plausiblerweise aus den Rollen, die kontingente und notwendige Sterblichkeit beim Zustandekommen des Todes einer Person spielen: Es zeigt sich, dass die Disposition zu sterben den Tod der Person ermöglicht. Dadurch macht sie einen kausal relevanten Unterschied im Auftreten eines für diese Person schlechten Ereignisses und beeinflusst so ihr Wohlergehen. Deshalb ist die kontingente Sterblichkeit schlecht für die Person – und diese Schlechtigkeit erbt sie von dem Ereignis des Todes. Steht dieses Ereignis allerdings noch nicht fest, erbt die kontingente Sterblichkeit stattdessen einen Teil des erwarteten Unwerts des Todes. Die notwendige Sterblichkeit andererseits erbt einen Teil des generellen Unwerts des Todes (verstanden als Ereignistyp), weil sie das Eintreten eines solchen Ereignisses vorwegnimmt, indem sie garantiert, dass ein Ereignis dieses Typs eintreten muss. Gleichzeitig scheint die notwendige Sterblichkeit ihrerseits die Evaluation des Todes (und somit auch der kontingenten Sterblichkeit) zu beeinflussen: Der Tod einer Person wirkt weniger tragisch, wenn sie notwendig sterblich ist. / The death of a person (an event) and her mortality (a property) are not the same but nevertheless clearly related. Assuming that a person’s death is bad for her, one may ask what this would mean for the evaluation of her mortality. To answer this question, one must distinguish between two different kinds of mortality: Contingent mortality (“being able to die”) is the dispositional property of a living being to die under certain circumstances. The death of the being is the manifestation of this disposition. Necessary mortality on the other hand (“having to die”) is the (meta-)property of a living being to have a limited life-expectancy, that is, to have a disposition to die that is necessarily manifested eventually. The evaluative connection between death and mortality can plausibly be derived from the roles that a person’s contingent and necessary mortality play in the occurrence of her death: It turns out that the disposition to die is an enabling condition for the person’s death. This means that it makes a causally relevant difference in the occurrence of an event that is bad for the person and thereby genuinely and negatively affects her wellbeing. Therefore, her contingent mortality is bad for the person – and this badness is derived from the badness of the event of her death. If this event is not yet settled, the contingent mortality inherits a part of the expected disvalue of the person’s death instead. Her necessary mortality on the other hand inherits part of the general disvalue of the person’s death (understood as a type of event) because it anticipates the occurrence of such an event by guaranteeing that an event of this type must occur. At the same time, the presence of a person’s necessary mortality seems to affect the evaluation of her death (and thereby also her contingent mortality): A person’s death appears less tragic if she is necessarily mortal.

This dissertation focuses on the non-market valuation of health-risks of malaria, an infectious disease that imposes a substantive public health burden across the globe, hitting particularly hard the tropical developing nations of Africa and Asia. The United Nations Millennium Development Goals include malaria control as a priority and large investments are underway to promote effective prevention and treatment. Despite such concerted supply-side efforts, malaria-related mortality and morbidity still abound due to a complex interface of factors like climate-change, poverty, inadequate control behavior, infection and prevention externalities, parasite resistance etc. This research project digs into the demand-side of the health problem, considers the "externality" dimension to prevention, and primarily asks the question: how do individuals in developing countries view competing disease-control (prevention) measures, viz. a publicly-administered community-level malaria control measure as against private preventive choices. A theoretical model is developed to help explore the public-private interplay of health risks of malaria. The malaria-endemic regions of Kolkata (India) and its rural fringes comprise the site for an empirical investigation. A field survey (Malaria Risk and Prevention Survey, October-December, 2011) incorporating a mix of stated and revealed preference techniques of health valuation is implemented. Risk-perceptions of respondents are elicited using a measurable visual-aid and individuals' perceived valuations of health-risk reductions, randomly offered with the public and private health treatments, are empirically ascertained. Using a Likelihood Ratio Test on the structural risk parameters, it is seen that individuals’ valuations of health risk reductions are the same across the private and public treatments. The comparative valuation iv exercise, thus, corroborates the externality dimension to malaria control, calling for greater public action to combat malaria. The viability of such a scaled-up public malaria program, in the context of Kolkata, is discussed by comparing the public treatment willingness to pay estimates with the annual estimated costs that the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, the civic body in the city of Kolkata, maintains on account of vector control. Results from the comparative valuation exercises also support the idea that private prevention is generally responsive to prevention costs, indicating the importance of price incentives to induce greater prevention. The issues of health valuation and price sensitivity are further explored across various split-samples differentiated on the basis of socio-economic attributes, disease exposure, actual prevention efforts and perceived malaria risks of survey respondents. Such auxiliary exercises help analyze the valuation question in greater depth, and generate policy insights into the potential factors that shape private prevention behavior.

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Additive manufacturing (AM), commonly known as 3D printing, has been attracting attention from practitioners as well as academicians with its continuous evolution from being used primarily for prototyping to now end-product production. Despite this technology's current and future potential, few studies indicate that AM has not been extensively used across all industries. This dissertation addresses knowledge gaps by providing theoretical and empirical support for adopting AM through three essays that study the role of AM in restructuring supply chains. Essay 1 provides systematic support for AM implementation by developing a typology derived from technology-specific potentials and challenges to adopting AM. This study uses an exploratory research approach to collect and analyze data from semi-structured interviews of practitioners with deep knowledge of AM and supply chains from diverse industries. In Essay 2, our results show that AM adoption positively influences supply chain responsiveness and, in turn, reshoring decisions. Essay 3 compares different supply chain configurations based on traditional and AM. We developed a hybrid simulation model combining discrete event simulation and agent-based simulation and compared the performance in terms of wait time and costs. Our results indicate that under certain conditions, the centralized configuration delivers spare parts faster than the distributed configuration, contrary to previous literature findings. However, a hybrid configuration (a combination of centralized and decentralized) provides a better response (reduced wait time) than the traditional, centralized, and decentralized configurations. Collectively, the three essays provide academicians and practitioners with a more comprehensive understanding of how AM creates value for supply chains.

由於社會變遷迅速，文化資產保存工作，無論在有形或無形資產方面均面臨了嚴苛的挑戰。許多為保存歷史建物、遺址、文物或技藝之民間組織或政府文化機構無不極力爭取以獲得必要的經費資源，以防止文化資產的快速流逝。近年來政府對文化資源的投入程度受到廣泛關注，在財政緊縮下，政府削減各項支出中有關文化設施之補助，或限縮地方政府的文化預算，引起各界對文化預算資源配置問題的熱烈討論，導致以經濟觀點衡量文化產出或文化設施之評價日顯重要。在俱歷史性之藝術或文化資源領域，由於其價值無法快速藉由市場價格機制訂出來，衡量文化政策之最適資源投資一直引起激烈爭議，在各部會資源競爭之下，為了獲得足夠的預算分配，政府各部門必須彰顯其對整體經濟效益之貢獻，因此近年來越來越多研究針對非市場財貨之公共投資進行經濟效益評估。調查民眾對文化公共財的願付價格，除可顯示民眾對文化公共財偏好強度以進行成本效益分析外，亦可作為該文化機構自行籌措財源擬訂定價策略之參考，並可提供政府當局財政配置及公共投資之依據，本篇研究將以非市場財貨評估中之條件評估法，以文建會所屬文化機構國立傳統藝術中心為例，求算民眾對該機構之願付價格。 / 實證結果，在估計參數值部份，發現文化資產保存重要性認同度、文化資產遺贈價值認同度、文化資產預算擴編認同度、年齡、文化產業消費頻率等變數，對受訪者的支付意願均有顯著影響；第一階段與第二階段的詢價金額係數估計值為負並且顯著，表示當詢價金額提升時，受訪者會傾向於不願意支付。在單界二元選擇問答下，Logit模型估算其值為181.56元，Probit模型估算其值為199.12元，在95％信心水準下區間估計值Logit模型其值為191.56元到171.56元之間，Probit模型其值為205.90元到192.34元之間；在雙界二元選擇問答下以Bivariabe Probit 估算結果得到第一次詢價的願付價格為145.69元，第二次詢價的願付價格為218.42 元，實證結果單界與雙界二元選擇模型願付價格差異不大。 / Nowadays, historic building, monument, and artifacts, facing difficult issue of damaging, are quickly dying away. Agencies and organizations whose mission is to protect and preserve historic and culturally important building, monument, and artifacts from the ravages of weather, pollution, development, and even use by the general public must compete urgently for needed resources. Government funding of the cultural arts has received considerable attention in recent years. Efforts to cut funding to the national endowment for the culture and declining budgets for public cultural organizations and art institution have raised questions about how much individuals value the culture and arts. Measuring the economic value of particular arts policies or public cultural organizations is difficult and important. The hard case for measuring economic value of cultural resources is that they are not captured readily by market prices. The appropriate resources to be allocated in public cultural or art institutions often get heated and considerable debate. Valuing the willingness to pay for cultural public goods, not only can be applied for measuring economic value to be used in benefit-cost analysis of public project, but also more efficient in the selection of investment program if the total value（use value and non-use value）can be estimated. The purpose of this study is using one of the non-market goods valuation method, contingent valuation method, to elicit a willingness to pay from individual for hypothetical changes in some situation, further more to value the use value and non-use value of the“National Center for Traditional Art ”. / The variables such as the IMPO,BEQU, BUDG, AGE, FRE1, have a significant positive effect on the WTP for a cultural public good valuing. The table broadly indicates that as the bid level is increased, the number of willing to pay the amount decreased. The empirical results show that under the single-bounded dichotomous choice model, the estimated WTP for Logit model is NT$181.56 and for Probit model is NT$199.12. Under the 95％ confidence, for Logit mode the estimated WTP is between NT $191.56 and NT $171.56, and for Probit model is between NT $205.90 and NT $192.34. Under the double-bounded dichotomous choice model, Bivariate Probit model was adopted to estimate the WTP. The first-estimated WTP is NT $145.69, and second-estimated WTP is NT $218.42. The estimated WTP under double bounded dichotomous choice model is not much different from the estimated WTP under single bounded dichotomous choice model.

La capture contingente de l’attention est un phénomène dans lequel les mécanismes d’orientation endogène et exogène de l’attention interagissent, de sorte qu’une propriété qui est pertinente à la tâche en cours, et donc qui fait l’objet de contrôles attentionnels descendants, endogènes, capture l’attention de façon involontaire, exogène, vers sa position spatiale. Dans cette thèse, trois aspects de ce phénomène ont été étudiés. Premièrement, en explorant le décours temporel de la capture contingente de l’attention et la réponse électrophysiologique à des distracteurs capturant ainsi l’attention, il a été établi que le déficit comportemental symptomatique de cette forme de capture était lié à un déploiement de l’attention visuospatiale vers la position du distracteur, et que ce traitement spatialement sélectif pouvait être modulé par le partage d’autres propriétés entre le distracteur et la cible. Deuxièmement, l’utilisation des potentiels liés aux événements a permis de dissocier l’hypothèse de capture contingente de l’attention et l’hypothèse de capture pure de l’attention. Selon cette interprétation, un stimulus ne peut capturer l’attention aux stades préattentifs de traitement que s’il présente le plus fort signal ascendant parmi tous les stimuli présents. Les contrôles attentionnels descendants ne serviraient donc qu’à désengager l’attention d’un tel stimulus. Les résultats présentés ici vont à l’encontre d’une telle interprétation, puisqu’un déploiement de l’attention visuospatiale, indexé par la présence d’une N2pc, n’a été observé que lorsqu’un distracteur périphérique possédait une caractéristique pertinente à la tâche en cours, même lorsque ses propriétés de bas niveau n’étaient pas plus saillantes que celles des autres items présents. Finalement, en utilisant un paradigme où la cible était définie en fonction de son appartenance à une catégorie alphanumérique, il a été démontré que des contrôles attentionnels en faveur d’un attribut conceptuel pouvaient guider l’attention visuospatiale de façon involontaire, rejetant une nouvelle fois l’hypothèse de la capture pure de l’attention. / Contingent involuntary orienting is a phenomenon in which endogenous and exogenous attentional mechanisms interact, such that an item captures attention only if it shares an attribute that is relevant for the task at hand. Hence, top-down attentional control settings are established endogenously in favour of the relevant attribute, but stimuli sharing this attribute draw attention to their location involuntarily. The present thesis explores three aspects of this phenomenon. First, by studying the time course of this contingent capture effect, and by measuring event-related potentials (ERPs) to capturing distractors, it has been established that the performance deficits linked to contingent capture are in fact due to a deployment of visuospatial attention to the location of the distractor. Moreover, this spatially selective processing of the capturing distractor can be modulated if the distractor shares another target attribute, beside the target defining attribute. The ERP technique also permitted the dissociation of the contingent involuntary orienting hypothesis and the pure capture with brief attentional dwell time hypothesis. According to the latter interpretation, only salient singletons have the ability to capture attention at preattentive stages of processing. Therefore, top-down attentional control settings serve only to disengage attention from the location of such singletons when they do not share target features. The present results argue against this interpretation, because a deployment of visuospatial attention, indexed by the presence of the N2pc, was observed only in response to peripheral distractors sharing the target-defining attribute, even when all items in the stimulus displays were equated in terms of bottom-up salience. Lastly, when alphanumeric category was used to define the target, it was shown that top-down attentional control settings in favour of such conceptual attributes could be successfully implemented and used to guide visuospatial attention in an exogenous fashion, providing further evidence against the pure capture hypothesis.

Les nouvelles technologies médicales contribuent aux dépenses en santé qui ne cessent de croître, alors que les budgets se trouvent limités. L’évaluation économique des technologies devraient permettre d’identifier quelles sont celles qui sont les plus rentables. Malgré cela, plusieurs technologies dont le rapport coût-efficacité reste plutôt limite ou défavorable sont utilisées en médecine moderne et remboursées par notre système public de santé. Ce mémoire se concentre sur deux technologies en santé cardiovasculaire dont le rapport coût-efficacité est plutôt limite mais qui sont fréquemment utilisées au Canada; les tuteurs médicamentés ou pharmaco-actifs et les défibrillateurs cardiaques implantables (DCI). Nous avons fait une évaluation contingente de ces technologies dans le but d’examiner si ce type d’évaluation économique complémentaire pouvait procurer un point de vue nouveau sur la valeur économique et sociétaire des ces technologies. Les résultats de ces deux évaluations indiquent que les patients accordent une grande importance aux bénéfices que procurent ces deux technologies. Nos résultats soutiennent les politiques de santé actuelles de rembourser de façon libérale ces deux technologies. / Technological innovations have greatly contributed to the rising costs in healthcare, while budgets have remained limited. Economic evaluations of technologies should identify which technologies are cost-effective. However, several technologies used in modern medicine are either borderline cost-effective or even not cost-effective according to many studies. This thesis focuses on two technologies in cardiovascular medicine which are considered borderline cost-effective; drug-eluting stents and implantable cardioverter defibrillators. We conducted a contingent valuation of these technologies in hopes of determining if this alternative type of economic evaluation could give a novel point of view on the economic and societal value of these technologies. Results indicated that patients greatly valued benefits provided by these two technologies. Our result support our public healthcare system policies’ of liberal reimbursement of these two technologies.

Les services écosystémiques (SE) réfèrent aux bénéfices que produisent et soutiennent la biodiversité et les écosystèmes et qui profitent à l’être humain. Dans beaucoup de cas, ils ne sont pas pris en compte dans le système économique. Cette externalisation des SE engendre des décisions sur l’utilisation du territoire et des ressources naturelles qui ignorent leur contribution à la qualité de vie des communautés. Afin notamment de sensibiliser l’opinion publique à l’importance des SE et de mieux les intégrer dans les processus décisionnels, ont été développées des démarches d’évaluation économique des SE. Dans cette thèse, nous avons cherché à comprendre à la fois comment l’utilisation passée et actuelle des sols dans la région de Montréal affecte la valeur des SE et comment ces aménités naturelles sont perçues et valorisées par la population, dans une perspective d’aménagement futur du territoire. Pour ce faire, nous avons utilisé deux approches : l’analyse spatiale recourant aux systèmes d’information géographique et l’analyse des préférences exprimées par des techniques d’enquête. Pour l’analyse spatiale, nous avons combiné des analyses cartographiques à des valeurs monétaires associées aux SE publiées dans la littérature. Nous avons alors estimé la valeur des écosystèmes d’un territoire par le transfert de bénéfices, de prix de marchés directs et de coûts évités. Cette démarche nous a permis de comprendre la relation entre l’utilisation actuelle du territoire du Grand Montréal écologique et la valeur des services fournis par les écosystèmes, que nous avons estimée à 2,2 milliards de dollars par année. Elle nous a permis aussi de mesurer les effets sur la valeur des SE du changement d’utilisation des sols entre les années 1960 et 2010. Nous avons montré que malgré différentes politiques de contrôle et d’encadrement de l’étalement urbain au cours de cette période, les pertes économiques non marchandes liées aux SE s’élèvent à 236 millions de dollars par année. Pour l’analyse des préférences exprimées, nous avons utlilisé deux méthodes, l’évaluation contingente et le choix multi-attributs, avec l’objectif de mesurer le consentement à payer de répondants pour des variations dans l’aménagement du territoire. Nous avons montré d’une part que les répondants valorisent significativement l’incidence des pratiques agro-environnementales sur la qualité de l’environnement et des paysages en consentant à payer entre 159 et 333 dollars par ménage par année pour une amélioration de la diversité du paysage agricole. D’autre part, leur volonté à payer pour l’amélioration de l’état des milieux humides du Québec est estimée entre 389 et 455 dollars par ménage par année. L’utilisation conjointe des deux méthodes nous a permis d’en comparer les résultats. Nous avons en outre démontré que le choix du format de question de valorisation de l’évaluation contingente affecte la convergence des résultats. Enfin, nous avons proposé des pistes de recherches futures portant sur l’intégration des démarches d’analyse biophysique, économique et politique dans des outils de prise de décision mieux adaptés à la dynamique des écosystèmes, de la biodiversité et des communautés humaines. / Ecosystem services (ES) refer to benefits produced and sustained by biodiversity and ecosystems that benefit humans. In many cases, they are not considered in the economic system. This externalization of SE generates decisions on land use and natural resources that ignore their contribution to the well-being of communities. In order to raise awareness of the importance of ES and better integrate them into decision-making processes, economic approaches to value ES have been developed. In this thesis, we sought to understand both how the past and current land use in the Montreal area affects the value of ES and how these natural amenities are perceived and valued by the population in a future planning and management perspective. To accomplish this, we used two approaches: spatial analysis using geographic information systems and analysis of stated preferences by survey techniques. In the spatial analysis approach, we combined cartographic analyzes to monetary values associated to ES published in the literature. We then estimated the value of ecosystems using benefit transfer, direct market prices and avoided costs methods. This approach has allowed us to understand the relationship between the current land use in the Greater Montreal and the economic value of the services provided by ecosystems, which we estimated at 2.2 billion dollars per year. It also allowed us to estimate the effects of land use changes between 1960 and 2010 on the value of ES. We showed that despite different land use planning policies implemented to manage urban sprawl during this period, non-market economic losses related to ES have reached 236 million dollars per year. In the stated preferences approach, we used two methods, contingent valuation and choice experiment, with the aim of measuring the willingness to pay of respondents for proposed changes in their environment. In a first study, we showed that respondents significantly value the impact of agri-environmental practices on the quality of the environment and landscapes and are willing to pay between 159 and 333 dollars per household per year on improving the diversity of agricultural landscape. In a second study, their willingness to pay on improving the status of wetlands in Quebec is estimated at between 389 and 455 dollars per household per year. The combined use of the two methods allowed us to compare the results. We also demonstrated that the choice of valuation question format in contingent valuation affects the convergence of the results. Finally, we propose directions for future research related to the integration of ecological, economic and political analyzes of ES that would lead to better assessments of the dynamics of ecosystems, biodiversity and human communities.