Does gender matter for demand revelation in threshold public goods experiments?

We examine the effect of gender on real and hypothetical contributions in a threshold public goods experiment using heterogeneous induced-values approach. Our analysis of the experimental data leads to several findings. First, gender differences in contributions are found for hypothetical payments, but not for real payments. This result is obtained while controlling for subjects' true values (induced-values) as well as socio-economic variables. Second, females are more likely to truthfully reveal their true value than males for hypothetical payments, but this effect is not significant for real payments. One could interpret these results as suggesting that females are more likely to state their value through hypothetical payments.Contingent valuation

Is a PD game still a dilemma for Japanese rural villagers? A field and laboratory comparison of the impact of social group membership on cooperation

Local norms and shared beliefs in cohesive social groups regulate individual behavior in everyday economic life. I use a door-to-door field experiment where a hundred and twenty villagers recruited from twenty-three communities in a Japanese rural mountainous village play a simultaneous prisoner’s dilemma game. To examine whether a set of experiences shared through interactions among community members affect experimental behavior, I compare villagers’ behavior under in-community and out-community random matching protocols. I also report a counterpart laboratory experiment with seventy-two university student subjects to address the external validity of laboratory experiments. The findings are three-fold. First, almost full cooperation is achieved when villagers play a prisoner’s dilemma game with their anonymous community members. Second, cooperation is significantly higher within the in-group compared to the out-group treatment in both the laboratory and field experiments. Third, although a significant treatment effect of social group membership is preserved, a big difference in the average cooperation rates is observed between the laboratory and field

Self-Selection Bias in Estimating the Determinants of Landowners' Re-enrollment Decisions in Forest Incentive Programs

Natural Resource Economics Discussion Papers are preliminary research reports by members of the GSA-NRE Kyoto University circulated for comments and suggestions. They have not been externally peer-reviewed or been subject to the review by the editorial board.Despite increasing attention in recent years, only a very limited number of studies have investigated the determinants of landowner re-enrollment intention in conservation incentive programs, none of which controlled for the potential self-selection of participants. This concern for a self-selection bias is policy relevant because researchers and policymakers investigate the determinants of re-enrollment in order not only to predict the retention rate of participants but also to promote the long-term success of conservation programs. This paper uses data on eligible landowners, consisting of both participants and non-participants, from a forest incentive program in Japan to examine the determinants of the participant re-enrollment decision, controlling for a rich set of observable landowner attributes and conditioned on the unobserved participant attributes identified by modeling the re-enrollment decision jointly with the decision to participate. The empirical results indicate that the unconditional marginal effects from the separate re-enrollment model are biased by selection and underestimate the effects by between 12% and 48%. The results also show that the observable factors that attract landowners to participate also tend to encourage participants to remain in the program. This implies that interventions directed at increasing initial participation are also likely to increase re-enrollment

Peer Effects in Landowner Participation: Evidence from a Forest Incentive Program

Natural Resource Economics Discussion Papers are preliminary research reports by members of the GSA-NRE Kyoto University circulated for comments and suggestions. They have not been externally peer-reviewed or been subject to the review by the editorial board.Identifying landowners' social interactions helps garner a better understanding of non-pecuniary incentives in their participation decision in an incentive-based program for conserving private lands. However, little is known in the literature about such peer effects among neighboring landowners. This study uses contract data from a forest incentive program implemented in a Japanese mountainous area with over 200 small local communities to estimate peer effects on individual participation. We identify peer effects using a binary choice model with social interactions, in which landowners are assumed to form heterogeneous expectations of community members' participation. The results reveal that their peers' participation significantly increases the likelihood of individual participation, suggesting peer effects are relevant for conservation policy design. Using the results, we demonstrate how including peer effects in the analysis improves policy predictions in estimating the impact of interventions and understanding the spatial configuration of participating land

Meta‐analysis of landowner participation in voluntary incentive programs for provision of forest ecosystem services

Many voluntary incentive programs for provision of forest ecosystem services (ES) have low participation rates, insufficient enrollment areas, and inefficient ecological outcomes. Understanding participation behavior in such programs has therefore become a crucial part of policy success. We synthesized a large body of literature on the behavior of nonindustrial private forest owners based on surveys of stated (intended) participation or data on actual participation in existing or hypothetical programs. Using metaregression analysis, we examined how methodological, program-characteristic, and economic-incentive variables affected participation rate estimates. Participation rates tended to be overestimated when landowner participation was elicited in hypothetical choice situations (compared with real situations) and when dichotomous choice surveys (compared with census data) were used. The marginal effect sizes were quite large, for example, a 31% increase with use of stated choices in hypothetical scenarios, and practitioners should therefore be aware of them. However, use of choice experiment surveys in a modified scenario based on existing programs had no effect on participation when all other determinants were controlled for. Participation rates decreased significantly as length of the contract increased and when there was no withdrawal option. These results suggest that perpetual contracts have a lower negative impact on participation than time-limited contracts with a duration of over 50 years. We confirmed that as compensation amounts increased, participation increased. One-time up-front payments were more effective in increasing initial participation than annual payments for contracts of over 5 years. We identified the robust determinants and the effect sizes of those determinants on landowner participation rate estimates, thereby contributing to a better understanding of forest owner behavior and offering useful insights to enable researchers and resource managers to improve the design and efficiency of new and existing forest ES programs.Muchos programas de incentivos voluntarios para el suministro de servicios ambientales forestales tienen tasas bajas de participación, áreas insuficientes de inscripción y resultados ecológicos ineficientes. Por lo tanto, el entendimiento del comportamiento de participación en dichos programas se ha convertido en una parte crucial del éxito de las políticas. Sintetizamos un gran acervo de literatura sobre el comportamiento no industrial de los dueños de terrenos forestales privados con base en censos de la participación manifestada (pretendida) o información sobre la participación actual en los programas existentes o hipotéticos. Mediante un análisis de metarregresión, analizamos cómo las variables metodológicas, características del programa o económica-incentivas afectaron los estimaciones de las tasas de participación. Las tasas de participación tuvieron una tendencia a estar sobreestimadas cuando la participación se obtuvo por medio de situaciones hipotéticas de elección (en comparación con las situaciones reales) y cuando se usaron encuestas de elección dicotómica (en comparación con la información de los censos). Los tamaños del efecto marginal fueron bastante grandes, por ejemplo, un incremento del 31% con el uso de opciones manifestadas en los escenarios hipotéticos y, por lo tanto, los practicantes deberían estar conscientes de estos tamaños. Sin embargo, el uso de las encuestas con el experimento de elección en un escenario modificado con base en los programas existentes no tuvo efecto sobre la participación cuando todas las demás determinantes estuvieron controladas. Las tasas de participación disminuían significativamente conforme incrementaba la longitud del contrato y cuando no había opción de rescisión. Estos resultados sugieren que los contratos perpetuos tienen un impacto negativo más bajo sobre la participación que los contratos con límite de tiempo y una duración de más de 50 años. Confirmamos que conforme aumentan las cantidades de la compensación, incrementa la participación. Los pagos únicos y adelantados fueron más efectivos al momento de incrementar la participación inicial que los pagos anuales para los contratos de más de cinco años. Identificamos las determinantes contundentes y los tamaños de los efectos de aquellas determinantes sobre los estimados de las tasas de participación de los terratenientes, contribuyendo así a un mejor entendimiento del comportamiento de los dueños forestales y ofreciendo conocimiento útil para permitir a los investigadores y a los administradores de recursos mejorar el diseño y la eficiencia de los programas de servicios ambientales forestales nuevos y existentes.许多与森林提供的生态系统服务相关的自愿激励项目存在参与率低、参与土地面积不足, 且生态效益低的问题。因此, 了解这些项目中的参与行为已成为政策成功的关键。本研究综合了大量关于非产业化私人森林的所有者行为文献, 这些文献报道了土地所有者对已有或假设中的保护项目参与意愿)表明有意参与或实际参与(的数据。我们利用荟萃回归分析, 研究了方法、保护项目特征和经济激励变量对参与率估计值的影响。相比于真实情况, 在假设的情况下做选择时, 土地所有者的参与率往往会被高估;使用二分选择调查与普查数据相比, 参与率也被高估。研究发现的边际效应相当大, 例如, 在假设存在的情景中, 使用规定选择产生的边际效应为 31%, 因此保护实践者应注意这个问题。然而, 当所有其它决定因素都得到控制时, 在基于现有方案而所修改的保护情景中使用选择实验调查, 对参与率估计没有影响。此外, 参与率会随着合同期限延长或在没有退出选项时显著下降。这些结果表明, 永久合同对参与率的负面影响低于期限超过 50 年的有期合同。我们还发现, 参与率会随着报酬增加而提高。对于 5 年以上的合同, 一次性预付比每年支付可以更有效地增加初次参与率。本研究确定了自愿激励项目中稳健的决定因素及其对土地所有者参与率估计的影响程度, 从而可以帮助更好地理解森林所有者的行为, 且可以提供有用的见解, 使研究者和资源管理者改善新的和现有森林生态系统服务项目的设计及有效性。【翻译:胡怡思;审校:聂永刚

Providing quality recreation experiences in Japan

This paper uses a choice experiment to evaluate the benefits to trekkers of the natural environment and the provision of appropriate recreation experiences in the Uryu-numa Mire, northern Japan. The result, applying a conditional logit model, shows that restoration of the natural environment are positively valued by trekkers, and their respective willingness to pay for one percentage point improvement are JPY 32.6 and 59.6. Likewise, provision of appropriate recreation experiences, setting a limit on the number of trekkers a day, is also positively valued. The results indicate that the optimal number of trekkers is 458, and the willingness to pay for controlling the number of trekkers from 800 to 458 is JPY 1,457. In Japan, importance of the quality of recreation experiences is not well recognized by park managers. However, our results indicate that both restoring the environment and providing excellent recreation experiences are significant challenges for recreation areas.

森林管理インセンティブプログラムに経済的インセンティブは本当に有効か？ 久万林業活性化プロジェクトの再契約に関する私有林所有者の意思決定を事例とした検証

近年、私有林における森林保全や持続可能な林業を目指した自発的インセンティブプログラムが注目を集めている。欧米では、私有林所有者のプログラムへの参加行動に関する研究が盛んに行われている。プログラム参加者の再契約行動を理解することは、長期的な保全や持続的な管理を達成するために重要である。しかしながら、再契約行動に関する研究は世界的に数少ない。そこで本論文では、再契約行動に関する理論分析と、愛媛県久万高原町における「久万林業活性化プロジェクト」の契約者データを用いた計量分析を行った。その結果、契約期間中に森林の共同管理が実際に実施された契約者の方が、再契約する確率が高くなることが示された

The influence of decision-making rules on individual preference for ecological restoration: Evidence from an experimental survey

We conduct an experimental survey to analyze how rules for collective decision-making influence individual preferences concerning nature restoration projects. Our study compares two decision-making rules - a consensus rule and a majority rule - wherein participants decide on a plan concerning nature restoration in the Kushiro Wetland, Japan. Our main finding is that the difference between the individual preferences and collective decision-making is less significant under the consensus rule than the majority rule. Furthermore, there is a larger disparity with regard to the marginal willingness to pay between collective and individual decisions when participants are unsatisfied with the results of collective choice.

Altruist talk may (also) be cheap: Revealed versus stated altruism as a predictor in stated preference studies

Altruistic preferences have been found to be important for explaining the substantial nonuse values identifed in numerous stated preference surveys. However, studies analysing the efect of altruism on willingness to pay (WTP) have underestimated the challenges of measuring altruism by stated measures. We exploit a naturally occurring decision domain to investigate the role of altruism in stated preference studies. We employ a novel dataset, collected from an Internet survey panel, that contains respondents’ past donations of earned survey coins to charities and use these data to analyse the efect of donation behaviour on the same respondents’ WTP. We analyse donation behaviour across two contingent valuation surveys on environmental topics. Donators are proven givers in an anonymous and unrelated setting, much like decision-making in a dictator game. We fnd that respondents’ past donations are associated with higher WTP, even after controlling for stated measures of altruism, ecological, and environmental attitudes. The results suggest that measures of stated altruism fail to capture important aspects of altruism, implying that previous studies of altruism based on such measures may be questioned. The results also support research demonstrating that altruistic behaviour in one decision domain is a good predictor of altruistic behaviour in other domains. Prosocial behaviour · Altruism · Contingent valuation · Donations · Willingness to paypublishedVersio

Experimental Study of the Premonitory Factors for Internal Erosion and Piping Failure of Landslide Dams

ydrodynamics is prerequisite for a better understanding of the complex mechanisms of internal erosion and piping failure of landslide dams. To this end, a series of large-scale (outdoor) physical experiments were conducted to evaluate the premonitory factors and the critical conditions for piping failure of landslide dams. The experimental facility comprises a horseshoe-shaped trapezoidal barrier of length 8 m and height 2 m, with an open end for the construction of the dam models. Internal deformations associated with the onset of internal erosion were monitored with four strain gauges inserted into a PVC pipe and laid *0.5 m above a 0.2 m-wide artificial drainage channel comprised of uniformly-sized pebbles and gravel. The rate of internal erosion and piping was measured with a turbidity sensor installed near the potential exit point of the seepage water to record the changes in turbidity of the fluidized sediments. Transient variations in the upstream reservoir were monitored with a 50 kPa capacity pore-pressure transducer while the hydrodynamic changes that occurred during the onset of internal erosion and piping were monitored with three pore-pressure transducers. The deformation behaviour of the dam models was monitored with two multi-function analog laser displacement sensors while self-potential measurements were made to track the development of the piping hole under steady-state flow conditions. The experimental results indicated that the emergence of an effluent seepage of high turbidity at the downstream face of the dam models coincided with high negative self-potential anomalies. This was also found to correlate with the development of high pore-water pressures (4–8 kPa) which subsequently led to a gradual decrease in the dam height (settlement). These large-scale (outdoor) physical experiments provide important information which may be useful in estimating the breaching process of landslide dams as triggered by piping