Intra-respondent heterogeneity in a stated choice survey on wetland conservation in Belarus: First steps towards creating a link with uncertainty in contingent valuation

Applications of discrete choice models in environmental valuation increasingly use a random coefficient specification, such as mixed logit, to represent taste heterogeneity. The majority of applications rely on data containing multiple observations for each respondent, where a common assumption is that tastes stay constant across choices for the same respondent. We question this assumption and make use of a model developed in the transport field which allows tastes to vary over choices for each consumer in addition to variation across consumers. An empirical analysis making use of a stated choice dataset for wetland conservation in Belarus shows that superior performance is obtained by allowing jointly for the two types of heterogeneity and that recovery of these intra-respondent variations is not possible using standard approaches, such as allowing for scale heterogeneity across tasks. We show also that intra-respondent heterogeneity can be especially high for attributes which respondents are unfamiliar with, and that a failure to account for it can substantially affect welfare estimates. We interpret this as an indication that this heterogeneity relates primarily to uncertainty. Finally, we offer initial insights into the relationship between intra-respondent heterogeneity and findings on uncertainty in a contingent valuation context

Testing the stability of utility parameters in repeated best, repeated best-worst and one-off best-worst studies

Stated choice (SC) surveys are a key tool for studying travel behaviour and are used to inform policy decisions in many countries. Recently, the best-worst (BW) variant of SC has rapidly increased in popularity in fields as diverse as transport, marketing and health research. A key argument for its implementation has been that it is perceived to be easier for respondents to identify the best and the worst alternative in a choice set compared to identifying the second- or even third best. For elicitation formats asking respondents to consecutively identify the first, second and third best (etc.) alternative, labelled here as repeated best stages, it is well known that utility and scale parameters are generally not stable across the stages. Joint analysis of the responses to each stage may increase the efficiency of the utility and willingness-to-pay parameters (i.e. smaller standard errors), but incorrect inferences may be made if these parameters are not stable across the stages. This paper tests the stability of utility parameters for the repeated BW and one-off BW format. Using data from three different studies, we show that, regardless of the dataset and elicitation format used, the obtained utility parameters and willingness to pay estimates are not stable across stages. The results thereby question the use of BW data in applied work aimed at forecasting and understanding first (best) choices. Our findings thereby contradict recent discussions about potentially beneficial framing effects in BW surveys. The unique presence of corresponding data from a repeated best and repeated BW exercise in one survey highlights the observed rank-orders are highly consistent across the two elicitation formats and that any differences in marginal willingness to pay estimates can be attributed to the imposed econometric model rather than to differences in the behaviour of respondents

From Valuation to Governance: Using Choice Experiment to Value Street Trees

This paper reports a choice experiment used to estimate the value of street trees in the city center of Lodz, Poland, and the broader context of how valuation results helped to improve governance of urban ecosystem services in this city. Based on a simplified inventory of trees, we prepared a set of hypothetical programs which put varying emphasis on the different ways to increase the numbers of trees, along with different levels of a hypothetical tax that would have to be paid by respondents to implement a given program. Our study indicated that the 351 surveyed Lodz residents were willing to pay the highest price for greening those streets where currently there are few or no trees and confirmed the general importance of planting trees. The results provided an argument in the debate on the new development strategy for the city and helped to promote the concept of ecosystem services.The valuation exercise was carried out within the Sendzimir Foundation’s project ‘‘Urban ecosystem services for sustainable development of cities’’ (within the ‘‘Polish TEEB for Cities’’ component). The project was funded by the Polish National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management and the Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt. Jakub Kronenberg acknowledges additional funding from the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education

Sulphate resistance of calcareous fly ash blended cements mortars

W artykule przedstawiono wyniki badań odporności na agresję siarczanową zapraw wykonanych z cementów z udziałem popiołu lotnego wapiennego. Rezultaty przeprowadzonych badań pozwalają stwierdzić, że stosowanie popiołów lotnych wapiennych jako składnika cementu, zwłaszcza po aktywacji mechanicznej, miało pozytywny wpływ na odporność korozyjną. Odporność na agresję siarczanową zapraw zależała od: temperatury, w której prowadzono badania, składu chemicznego popiołu lotnego wapiennego oraz składu chemicznego i mineralnego klinkieru, użytych do produkcji cementów. Największą odporność wykazały cementy zawierające zmielony (bardziej aktywny) popiół lotny wapienny: w temperaturze 20°C – CEM II/B‑W1+, a w temperaturze 8°C – CEM II/B‑W3+.This paper presents the results of resistance to sulphate attack of mortars made of calcareous fly ash blended cements. The test results showed that the using of calcareous fly ash as a cement constituent, especially mechanically activated, had positive influence on corrosion resistance. Sulphate resistance of tested mortars depended on: the temperature at which the test was carried out, the chemical composition of calcareous fly ash, and the chemical and mineral composition of clinker used in the cement production. Portland-fly ash cements, containing ground (more active) calcareous fly ash: CEM II/B‑W1+ in temperature of 20°C, and CEM II/B‑W3+ in temperature of 8°C showed the highest resistance against chemical corrosion