THE VALUE OF THE VIEW: VALUING SCENIC QUALITY USING CHOICE AND CONTINGENT VALUATION MODELS

Scenic beauty contributes to residents' quality of life and also serves to attract visitors to recreational areas. Because of the dynamic relationship between people, land, and rural development, there is an increasing interest in estimating the value of scenic quality using nonmarket valuation techniques. This study estimates the value of scenic quality to Blue Ridge Parkway visitors using choice and contingent valuation models. Results suggest that further research into respondent perceptions of CM and CVM models, and the conditions under which they yield comparable estimates, is warranted.Institutional and Behavioral Economics,

USE OF CHAMBERLAIN FIXED EFFECTS APPROACH TO ESTIMATE WILLINGNESS-TO-PAY FOR LITTLE TENNESSEE RIVER BASIN MANAGEMENT ALTERNATIVES

The paper discusses an application of Chamberlain's fixed effects model to contingent valuation method survey data obtained for eight management alternatives for the Little Tennessee River basin. The advantages of using this approach versus cross-sectional logit, pooled logit, and cross-sectional logit with lags are discussed and a technique to obtain willingness-to-pay estimates from estimated coefficients is offered. Drawbacks of using Chamberlain's fixed effects model, difficulties encountered, and directions for further research are presented.Environmental Economics and Policy,

The Fiscal Impact of Alternative Land Uses in Macon County

This paper uses the hedonic method to analyze the effect of land use change on local government property tax revenues and costs of property tax-supported services. A statistical model estimates the property value for alternative land uses which is used with the current property tax rate to estimate tax revenue for a typical parcel in each of three land use categories: residential, commercial, and agriculture/open-space. The per parcel average cost of tax supported services is calculated from county expenditures. Using these values a revenue to cost ratio is calculated for each land use and a scenario assuming the development of thirty acres of open space is discussed

THE VALUE OF THE VIEW: VALUING SCENIC QUALITY USING CHOICE AND CONTINGENT VALUATION MODELS

Scenic beauty contributes to residents' quality of life and also serves to attract visitors to recreational areas. Because of the dynamic relationship between people, land, and rural development, there is an increasing interest in estimating the value of scenic quality using nonmarket valuation techniques. This study estimates the value of scenic quality to Blue Ridge Parkway visitors using choice and contingent valuation models. Results suggest that further research into respondent perceptions of CM and CVM models, and the conditions under which they yield comparable estimates, is warranted

USE OF CHAMBERLAIN FIXED EFFECTS APPROACH TO ESTIMATE WILLINGNESS-TO-PAY FOR LITTLE TENNESSEE RIVER BASIN MANAGEMENT ALTERNATIVES

The paper discusses an application of Chamberlain's fixed effects model to contingent valuation method survey data obtained for eight management alternatives for the Little Tennessee River basin. The advantages of using this approach versus cross-sectional logit, pooled logit, and cross-sectional logit with lags are discussed and a technique to obtain willingness-to-pay estimates from estimated coefficients is offered. Drawbacks of using Chamberlain's fixed effects model, difficulties encountered, and directions for further research are presented

ESTIMATING THE LOCAL ECONOMIC BENEFITS OF RIPARIAN ECOSYSTEM RESTORATION USING ITERATED CONTINGENT VALUATION

A computerized survey instrument was developed to estimate the economic value of riparian restoration along the Little Tennessee River in western North Carolina. Restoration benefits were described in terms of five indicators of ecosystem services: abundance of game fish, water clarity, wildlife habitat, allowable water uses, and ecosystem naturalness. An iterative sequence of dichotomous choice contingent valuation questions were presented to local residents to assess household willingness to pay increased county sales taxes for differing amounts of riparian restoration. Our results showed that the benefits of ecosystem restoration were "super-additive". That is, the total value of conducting many restoration projects exceeded the sum of the value of projects evaluated independently or at too small of a spatial scale. We also estimated the costs of riparian restoration activities by collecting and analyzing data from riparian restoration projects in the study area. After adjusting our estimated valuation function for socio-economic characteristics of the population, the benefit/ cost ratio for riparian restoration throughout the entire watershed was about 2.2 to 1

ESTIMATING THE LOCAL ECONOMIC BENEFITS OF RIPARIAN ECOSYSTEM RESTORATION USING ITERATED CONTINGENT VALUATION

A computerized survey instrument was developed to estimate the economic value of riparian restoration along the Little Tennessee River in western North Carolina. Restoration benefits were described in terms of five indicators of ecosystem services: abundance of game fish, water clarity, wildlife habitat, allowable water uses, and ecosystem naturalness. An iterative sequence of dichotomous choice contingent valuation questions were presented to local residents to assess household willingness to pay increased county sales taxes for differing amounts of riparian restoration. Our results showed that the benefits of ecosystem restoration were "super-additive". That is, the total value of conducting many restoration projects exceeded the sum of the value of projects evaluated independently or at too small of a spatial scale. We also estimated the costs of riparian restoration activities by collecting and analyzing data from riparian restoration projects in the study area. After adjusting our estimated valuation function for socio-economic characteristics of the population, the benefit/ cost ratio for riparian restoration throughout the entire watershed was about 2.2 to 1.Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,