Using farmers' ex ante preferences to design agri-environmental contracts: A systematic review

Ensuring that farmers' ex ante preferences are accounted for is crucial for the design of effective agri-environmental contracts. We present a systematic review of 127 discrete choice experiment (DCE) studies of farmers' preferences with respect to agri-environmental contracts. DCE studies evaluate two central features of farmers' behaviour: (1) their willingness to accept land use prescriptions, such as fertiliser use, application of pesticides, restrictions on cropping, livestock management, integration of silvopasture, maintaining soil health or water use restrictions; and (2) their responses to variations in incentive and commitment criteria, such as reward schemes, monitoring regimes, technical assistance, flexibility of agreements, administrative burden and collaborative implementation. Our analysis considers how these different elements are interlinked and applied in experiments to simulate farmers' decision-making processes. We examine recent methodological improvements in explaining farmer behaviour, including the accommodation of preference heterogeneity, the combining of discrete (enrolment) and continuous decisions, and the incorporation of farmers' sense of identity. DCEs have been applied for the ex ante analysis of different policy instruments to inform the European Common Agricultural Policy and agri-environmental schemes outside the EU. The results of this systematic review may be useful in informing the future design of such agri-environmental programmes. The database underpinning this systematic literature review may help peer scientists to (a) compare, validate and triangulate their own findings with respect to other experimental approaches, (b) use previous willingness-to-accept (WTA) measures as priors for their own study design, and (c) identify research gaps regarding farmers' preferences for agri-environmental measures

Value of Life Year and Cost-Effectiveness Thresholds: The Case of Poland

The objective of this article is to examine how people value two different attributes of Value of Life Year (VOLY): life expectancy and the quality of life. The results of the first VOLY estimations conducted in Poland are discussed and compared with Polish cost-effectiveness thresholds for medical treatments in the period 2008–2020. The Discrete Choice Experiment (DCE) method was used to value two attributes of VOLY: increase in life expectancy and improvement in the quality of life. The VOLY research was conducted in two populations: general and dialysis. Depending on their current health status, people value increased life expectancy and improvement in health quality differently. In light of these results, the VOLY should be differentiated. Also in the Quality Adjusted Life Year (QALY) indicator, the weights of the attributes of length and quality of life should be varied according to different states of health. A uniform cost-effectiveness threshold is not justified from the perspective of stated preferences. Cost-effectiveness thresholds based on demand-side values should be differentiated. Current Polish cost-effectiveness thresholds are overestimated compared to valuations based on stated preferences. The article presents the first estimations of two attributes of VOLY: life expectancy and the quality of life, carried out in Poland

Warto?? dodatkowego roku prze?ycia w Polsce

The article touches the problem how to valuate such specific goods as human health and life. The study provides the results of the first Polish valuation of life year gained (VOLY) in the context of air pollution on the level of 32,0–70,4 thousand PLN. Presented contingent valuation method survey was conducted within European Commission NEEDS project. Common questionnaire was implemented in 8 European countries: Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, France, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Spain, Denmark. Poland’s research was conducted by Warsaw Ecological Economics Centre in 2004–2006. The monetary indicators can be used in decisive processes in health care and environmental protection sectors. Taking into account first Polish experiences in valuation of life year and trends in development of valuation methods, some directions for future research in this field have been outlined.

Using farmers' ex ante preferences to design agri‐environmental contracts: A systematic review

Ensuring that farmers' ex ante preferences are accounted for is crucial for the design of effective agri-environmental contracts. We present a systematic review of 127 discrete choice experiment (DCE) studies of farmers' preferences with respect to agri-environmental contracts. DCE studies evaluate two central features of farmers' behaviour: (1) their willingness to accept land use prescriptions, such as fertiliser use, application of pesticides, restrictions on cropping, livestock management, integration of silvopasture, maintaining soil health or water use restrictions; and (2) their responses to variations in incentive and commitment criteria, such as reward schemes, monitoring regimes, technical assistance, flexibility of agreements, administrative burden and collaborative implementation. Our analysis considers how these different elements are interlinked and applied in experiments to simulate farmers' decision-making processes. We examine recent methodological improvements in explaining farmer behaviour, including the accommodation of preference heterogeneity, the combining of discrete (enrolment) and continuous decisions, and the incorporation of farmers' sense of identity. DCEs have been applied for the ex ante analysis of different policy instruments to inform the European Common Agricultural Policy and agri-environmental schemes outside the EU. The results of this systematic review may be useful in informing the future design of such agri-environmental programmes. The database underpinning this systematic literature review may help peer scientists to (a) compare, validate and triangulate their own findings with respect to other experimental approaches, (b) use previous willingness-to-accept (WTA) measures as priors for their own study design, and (c) identify research gaps regarding farmers' preferences for agri-environmental measures