Incentive Design to Enhance the Reach of Weight Loss Program

This study employed stated-preference methods to elicit individuals’ program participation preference towards different financial incentive attributes. The results of this study show promise for the use of carefully designed incentive programs to raise participation in weight loss programs. Results show that a fungible payment form is important for the incentive to be effective in reach (i.e., cash and grocery gift-cards are preferred over gym passes and waivers of insurance co-payments). Furthermore, immediate payment is preferred over delayed payment.Financial Incentives, Program Reach, Random Parameter Logit, Health Economics and Policy, F10, F13,

Detecting Starting Point Bias in Dichotomous-Choice Contingent Valuation Surveys

We examine starting point bias in CV surveys with dichotomous choice payment questions and follow-ups, and double-bounded models of the WTP responses. We wish to investigate (1) the seriousness of the biases for the location and scale parameters of WTP in the presence of starting point bias; (2) whether or not these biases depend on the distribution of WTP and on the bids used; and (3) how well a commonly used diagnostic for starting point bias - a test of the null that bid set dummies entered in the right-hand side of the WTP model are jointly equal to zero - performs under various circumstances. Because starting point bias cannot be separately identified in any reliable manner from biases caused by model specification, we use simulation approaches to address this issue. Our Monte Carlo simulations suggest that the effect of ignoring starting point bias is complex and depends on the true distribution of WTP. Bid set dummies tend to soak up misspecifications in the distribution assumed by the researcher for the latent WTP, rather than capturing the presence of starting point bias. Their power in detecting starting point bias is low

Robustness of VSL Values from Contingent Valuation Surveys

This paper examines factors that may influence the estimates of the Value of a Statistical Life obtained from contingent valuation surveys that elicit the willingness to pay (WTP) for mortality risk reductions. We examine the importance of distributional assumptions, the choice of the welfare statistics of interest, the procedure for computing them, outliers, undesirable response effects, and internal validity of the WTP responses. We illustrate the importance of these factors using dichotomous-choice and open-ended WTP data from four recent contingent valuation surveys

Environmental Pricing Policies for Transportation: A Distributional Analysis of the Twin Cities

As the cost of transporting people increases, questions about paying for the accompanying air and noise pollution increase. This report investigates the distribution impacts of environmental pricing policies on groups in the Twin Cities. The study uses data on travel behavior in the Twin Cities to examine the distributional impacts of three types of environmental pricing policies: a $.65 optimal downtown, peak period congestion fee; a 10 percent gasoline tax; and a 50 percent transit fare reduction. It evaluates each policy in terms of aggregate welfare costs, revenues, emissions reductions, and cost-effectiveness and looks at distributional impacts by using four groupings--income, region, gender, and age. The study found that the congestion fee and gasoline tax are regressive, with the burdens of these taxes increasing with income and decreasing as shares of income. The transit subsidy, on the other hand, disproportionately benefits low-income individuals. Other findings show the advantages and disadvantages to urban and suburban commuters and noncommuters and senior citizens.Minnesota Department of TransportationKanninen, Barbara J.. (1995). Environmental Pricing Policies for Transportation: A Distributional Analysis of the Twin Cities. Retrieved from the University Digital Conservancy, https://hdl.handle.net/11299/155353

Intelligent transportation systems: An economic and environmental policy assessment

This paper discusses the congestion relief and environmental impacts expected of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) based on a qualitative assessment of the incentives generated. It uses theoretical and empirical results from the literature to evaluate the private and externality impacts of Advanced Traveler Information Systems (ATIS), Automated Highway Systems (AHS) and Intelligent Transit Systems and discusses the appropriate role of the public sector in their development based on these impacts. It is argued that although ITS are intended to improve system efficiency, the technologies may, in fact, exacerbate the existing, economic inefficiencies in the surface transportation system and that policies to correct these inefficiencies become all the more crucial as we consider implementation of ITS. Several policies that target environmental externalities are discussed as possible complements to ITS.

The Economics of Alternative Transportation Modes: An Empirical Assessment of the Twin Cities

This report presents a model of travel behavior for the Twin Cities Metropolitan Area using the 1990 Travel Behavior Inventory. The model incorporates mode choice and the number of trips individuals take. Using the estimation results, we report estimates for mode share price elasticities and find that they are quite low. All mode share elasticities are less than 0.25 which means that a 4% price change could cause no more than a 1% change in mode share. Mode share elasticities for nonwork trips are higher than those for work trips indicating that there is greater flexibility in non-work trip mode choices than in work trip choices. Two pricing policy simulations are performed and the results verify that there is low mode choice responsiveness to price changes. The welfare costs associated with these policies are derived. It is found that a 10% gasoline tax would cost the average traveler $0.33 per day. A transit fare reduction by one-half would benefit the average traveler$0.12 per day. It should be noted though that the transit fare reduction affects only a small part of the population who, apparently, receive large cost savings. Although the transit fare reduction does not reduce vehicle use by much, it does increase the transit share by 24%, a substantial increase in ridership. The results presented here imply that large price changes are necessary to induce people to reduce their vehicle use either by switching modes or reducing the number of trips they take.Research funded by the Regional Transit Board through the Center for Transportation Studies, University of MinnesotaKanninen, Barbara J.; Mohn, Craig. (1994). The Economics of Alternative Transportation Modes: An Empirical Assessment of the Twin Cities. Retrieved from the University Digital Conservancy, https://hdl.handle.net/11299/156004