Are Preferences for Environmental Quality Sensitive to Financial Funding Schemes? Evidence from a Marine Restoration Programme in the Black Sea

This paper uses a non-market valuation study to elicit consumers’ preferences for a marine restoration programme in the Black Sea aiming to reduce the level of public health risk from bathing and improve water quality and the overall level of marine biodiversity. In this context, we administer a stated choice experiment in coastal settlements in Ukraine and Turkey and employ two tax revenue reallocation schemes as payment vehicles. One proposes the financing of the marine restoration programme by the reduction of the public budget for renewable energy and the second by the reduction of the public budget on training for civil servants. We examine the stated preferences and the subsequently derived economic value estimates in the two treatments with the aim to investigate whether the trade-off implied by the funding scheme has implications for the valuation outcome. Results reveal that preferences and marginal rates of substitution between the non-price attributes under consideration differ significantly. In the civil servants’ budget reallocation scheme, the reallocation coefficient is positive, implying that ceteris paribus redistribution of public financial resources from this source is utility-enhancing. The magnitude of the results differs in the two considered countries mirroring their heterogeneity in political and cultural dimensions.Non-Market Valuation; Stated Choice Experiment, Payment Vehicle, Tax Revenues Reallocation, Marine Resources, Black Sea, Marine Biodiversity, Developing Countries

Emerging geographies of mobility:The role of regional towns in Greece's 'counterurbanisation story'

Drawing on the ?mobility turn?, research in rural studies has engaged with new explorations of mobilities, beyond the now well-explored counterurbanisation and rural gentrification processes, including local and temporary mobility in diverse socio-economic and cultural contexts. This paper explores past and potential future mobility patterns in two regional towns in non-metropolitan Greece in the context of the ongoing financial crisis. Using a choice experiment, we assess the importance of settlement types, family networks, previous residency in the area, cultural opportunities and change in employment type in informing future mobility decisions. The analysis finds evidence of diverse mobilities, and distinguishes between two predominant mobility groups, i.e. counterurbanisers and local movers. We further look at relocation preferences for the two groups and find similar preferences for regional towns. In this context, we provide evidence for the potential emergence of an alternative, i.e. not rooted in pastoralism, version of the Anglo-American ?rural idyll?.Peer reviewe

The use of economic valuation in environmental policy: providing research support for the implementation of Eu Water Policy Under Aquastress

This book aims to show that economics in general and non market valuation methods in particular, together with participatory and engineering tools, can facilitate the design and implementation of the different European policies in relation to mitigation of water stress. The results presented in this book derive from AquaStress, an EU funded integrated project, delivering interdisciplinary methodologies to help mitigate water stress problems. The project draws on both academic and practitioner skills to generate knowledge in technological, operational management, policy, socio-economic, and environmental domains. The book is divided in three parts and as the AquaStress project, is case study driven. Part I begins with a review of the up-to-date use of non-market valuation economic methods in the design and implementation of EU water policies. Part II of the book proceeds to discuss and analyze participatory and engineering tools that can facilitate the determination of efficient water resources policies and the consequent implementation of the EU WFD, using case studies of test sites from Bulgaria, Italy, Morocco and Poland. Part III of the book, brings us back to the use of economic tools and focuses on policy appraisal through social cost-benefit analyses and the choice/estimation of the socially efficient discount rate to be used in such analyses. The book concludes with specific policy recommendations for all case-studies considered in previous chapters. This work would be of most interest to water resources managers and policy makers as well as consultants working on the implementation of the WFD. It would also be helpful to students and scholars of water resource management

Warm glow in charitable auctions: Are the WEIRDos driving the results?

Running conventional laboratory experiments (i.e., with a standard student subject pool) is common practice in economic experiments especially when methodological issues are explored. However, generalization of the results from such experiments to the entire population is subject to severe critique. In this study we investigate warm glow in charitable auctions in a conventional lab experiment and an artefactual field experiment (i.e., lab experiment using subjects from the general population). The auction is constructed in a way to isolate warm glow by donating the sum of revenues by highest bidders to an environmental charity of subjects’ choice. Contributions motivated by pure altruism were eliminated by keeping constant the total amount the charity would receive. Results for the two subject pools are at complete odds. There is ample evidence of warm glow in the student subject pool but none in the consumer subject pool. Our findings suggest that conclusions from conventional lab experiments may not be immediately transferable to the general population

Warm glow in charitable auctions: Are the WEIRDos driving the results?

Running conventional laboratory experiments (i.e., with a standard student subject pool) is common practice in economic experiments, especially when methodological enquiries are explored. However, the generalization of the results from such experiments to the entire population is a highly controversial issue in the literature. In this study we investigate and measure warm glow motivations behind giving in charitable auctions in a conventional lab experiment and an artefactual field experiment (i.e., lab experiment using subjects from the general population). Using a novel experimental design that allows isolation of warm glow from contributions motivated by pure altruism, we find that warm glow is only evident in the student population. Our findings cast doubt on the validity of generalizing the conclusions from conventional lab experiments to the general population

Warm glow in charitable auctions: Are the WEIRDos driving the results?

Running conventional laboratory experiments (i.e., with a standard student subject pool) is common practice in economic experiments especially when methodological issues are explored. However, generalization of the results from such experiments to the entire population is subject to severe critique. In this study we investigate warm glow in charitable auctions in a conventional lab experiment and an artefactual field experiment (i.e., lab experiment using subjects from the general population). The auction is constructed in a way to isolate warm glow by donating the sum of revenues by highest bidders to an environmental charity of subjects’ choice. Contributions motivated by pure altruism were eliminated by keeping constant the total amount the charity would receive. Results for the two subject pools are at complete odds. There is ample evidence of warm glow in the student subject pool but none in the consumer subject pool. Our findings suggest that conclusions from conventional lab experiments may not be immediately transferable to the general population