Testing Different Types of Benefit Transfer in Valuation of Ecosystem Services: New Zealand Winegrowing Case Studies

Most ecosystem services (ES) are neither priced nor marketed. Resource managers may fail to take into account degradation of unpriced services in their resource management decisions. Being able to estimate values for ES is fundamental to designing policies to induce resource users to provide (or improve) ES at levels that are acceptable to society. Conducting ecosystem valuation via non-market methods is costly and time consuming. Benefit Transfer (BT) using choice modeling (CM) is a potentially cost-effective method for valuing ES by transferring information from existing valuation studies (and study sites) to a target area of interest (policy sites). The prime objective of this paper is to examine the validity of BT and hence whether it is feasible to conduct the transfer process and assist policy making. The paper focuses on the environmental impact of winegrowing practices in two New Zealand winegrowing regions. The two sites, Hawke’s Bay and Marlborough, have similar environmental issues and attributes but are geographically separated. The study estimates WTP and Compensating Surplus (CS) for ES applying CM and, subsequently, given the preferences of respondents across sites and populations, tests the transferability of unadjusted value transfer (WTP) and benefits function (CS) assessing four different types of BT.Benefit transfer, choice modeling, New Zealand winegrowing, ecosystem services,

Order-disorder phase change in embedded Si nano-particles

We investigated the relative stability of the amorphous vs crystalline nanoparticles of size ranging between 0.8 and 1.8 nm. We found that, at variance from bulk systems, at low T small nanoparticles are amorphous and they undergo to an amorphous-to-crystalline phase transition at high T. On the contrary, large nanoparticles recover the bulk-like behavior: crystalline at low T and amorphous at high T. We also investigated the structure of crystalline nanoparticles, providing evidence that they are formed by an ordered core surrounded by a disordered periphery. Furthermore, we also provide evidence that the details of the structure of the crystalline core depend on the size of the nanoparticleComment: 8 pages, 5 figure

The models of New Babylon: from unitary urbanism to the digital model.

[EN] The idea of unitary urbanism germinated in the Situationist International, but it was the New Babylon maquettes by the Dutch artist Constant Nieuwenhuys which gave it form as a centre of different forms of expression. It was a proposal for a future city resulting from a new culture, which would emerge from citizens who were constructors of the collective space in a playful and creative way and in a continuous direction, with technology at their disposal.His models contain ideas that appear to hint at the current digital reality, and the emergence of a new culture from computer screens. Faced with this dynamic and its action in architectural representation, they are taken as a reference to contrast with the digital model that gives cause for revising the value of the maquette and its belonging as a form of expression.[ES] La idea del urbanismo unitario germinó en la Internacional Situacionista, pero fueron las maquetas de New Babylon, del artista holandés Constant Nieuwenhuys las que le dieron forma como centro de variadas formas de expresión. Fue una propuesta de ciudad futura resultado de una nueva cultura, que emergería de ciudadanos constructores del espacio colectivo de forma lúdica y creativa en una deriva continua, con la tecnología a su disposición. Sus modelos contienen ideas que parecen esbozar la realidad digital actual, y el surgir de una nueva cultura desde las pantallas. Ante esta dinámica y su acción en la representación arquitectónica, se toman como referencia para contrastar con el modelo digital que da pie a revisar el valor de la maqueta y su pertinencia como forma de expresión.Colombo Ruiz, S. (2017). Los modelos de New Babylon: del urbanismo unitario al modelo digital. EGA. Revista de Expresión Gráfica Arquitectónica. 22(31):80-89. doi:10.4995/ega.2017.8865SWORD80892231Dollens, D., 2002. De lo digital a lo analógico. Editorial Gustavo Gili, [Barcelona].Nieuwenhuys, C., 2015a. Conferencia en el ICA (1963), in: Constant: Nueva Babilonia. Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid.Nieuwenhuys, C., 2015b. Nueva Babilonia. Diez a-os después (Original en holandés "New Babylon-Na tien jaren", presentado en la Facultad de Arquitectura, Universidad de Delf, 23 Mayo, 1980), in: Constant: Nueva Babilonia. Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid.Perniola, M., 2007. Los Situacionistas: historia crítica de la última vanguardia del siglo XX. Acuarela Libros y Antonio Machado, Madrid.Rasmussen, S.E., 2004. La experiencia de la arquitectura : sobre la percepción de nuestro entorno. Reverté, Barcelona.Stokvis, W., 2015. Nueva Babilonia y De Stijl, in: Constant Nueva Babilonia. Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid.van Schaik, M., 2005. Psychogeogram: An artist’s Utopia, in: van Schaik, M., Mácel, O. (Eds.), Exit Utopia: Architectural Provocations 1956-76. Prestel Pub, New York, NY.Wigley, M., 1999. Paper, scissors, blur., in: Drawing Papers 3. Another City for Another Life: Constant’s New Babylon (Cat. Exp.). The Drawing Center, New York.Wigley, M., 1998. Constant's New Babylon: the hyper-architecture of desire. Witte de With, Center for Contemporary Art : 010 Publishers, Rotterdam

Testing Choice Experiment for Benefit Transfer

Benefit transfer is a cost-effective method for estimating the value of environmental goods that relies on information obtained in previous studies. The multi-attribute approach of choice experiment should provide advantages in terms of benefit transfer allowing differences in environmental improvements between sites as well as differences in socio-economic and attitude characteristics between respondent populations. Furthermore, choice experiment allows the estimation of implicit prices and the welfare change for many scenarios. If the transferability of these values is confirmed, that would be good news for benefit transfer practitioners. This paper investigates the capability of choice experiment method to be used in environmental benefit transfer.choice experiment, benefit transfer, soil erosion, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, Q30,

Subaqueous barchans and plane beds from deposition of quartz silt

The suspension flow of quartz silt (geometric mean grain size of 4.15 µm), in unfavorable conditions for deposition, is the motivation for the development of different bed morphologies. Particles deposit over a plane nonerodible surface and develop well-defined barchan ripples, barchanoids, and plane beds in flume experiments. Bedload transport of quartz silt by bedform migration is several orders of magnitude smaller than the suspended transport. The final bed morphology is controlled by the suspended sediment concentration and running time of the experiment. The average dimensions of the bedforms after 1-day experiments are 4.93 cm wide, 10.33 cm long, and 0.45 cm high. Cohesive plane beds appear after 2-day and 3-day experiments with very high sediment concentrations (= 22.5 kg=m3). Viscous effects are deemed relevant for the formation of the beds.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Análisis econométrico de la heterogeneidad de las preferencias de los individuos: aplicación a la valoración económica de la conservación del paisaje agrícola de montaña

The need to account for respondents’ preference heterogeneity in stated choice models has motivated researchers to apply random parameter logit and latent class models. In this paper we compare these three alternative ways of incorporating preference heterogeneity in stated choice models and evaluate how the choice of model affects welfare estimates in a given empirical application. Finally, we discuss what criteria to follow to decide which approach is most appropriate. RESUMEN: La necesidad de incorporar la heterogeneidad en las preferencias de los individuos en los modelos de elección discreta ha llevado a los investigadores a emplear siempre más frecuentemente modelos de parámetros aleatorios o de clases latentes. En este artículo se comparan tres diferentes alternativas de incorporar la heterogeneidad de las preferencias en los modelos de elección discreta y se determina el efecto que éstos tienen en la estimación de las medidas de bienestar para la conservación del paisaje de montaña. Por último se propone unos criterios a seguir para determinar que enfoque es más apropiado.Heterogeneity, Heterogeneidad, modelos de clases latentes, modelos de heterogeneidad de la varianza, modelos de parámetros aleatorios, paisaje de montaña, latent class models, covariance heterogeneity models, random parameter models, uphill landscape, Environmental Economics and Policy, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, C52, Q24,

Modelling preference heterogeneity in stated choice data: an analysis for public goods generated by agriculture

Stated choice models based on the random utility framework are becoming increasingly popular in the applied economics literature. The need to account for respondents’ preference heterogeneity in such models has motivated researchers in agricultural, environmental, health and transport economics to apply random parameter logit and latent class models. In most of the published literature these models incorporate heterogeneity in preferences through the systematic component of utility. An alternative approach is to investigate heterogeneity through the random component of utility, and covariance heterogeneity models are one means of doing this. In this paper we compare these alternative ways of incorporating preference heterogeneity in stated choice models and evaluate how the selection of approach affects welfare estimates in a given empirical application. We find that a Latent Class approach fits our data best but all the models perform well in terms of out-of-sample predictions. Finally, we discuss what criteria a researcher can use to decide which approach is most appropriate for a given data set

Measuring the demand for nature-based tourism in Africa: a choice experiment using the "cut-off" approach

Integrated Conservation and Development Plans (ICDPs) have been put forward as means of reconciling wildlife conservation in developing countries with improvements in community incomes. In this paper, we use the Choice Experiment approach to quantify overseas tourists’ willingness to pay for attributes of nature-based tourism as part of an ICDP, focussing on visits to mountain gorilla areas in Rwanda. Contributions to community incomes are included as one attribute of the design. Methodologically, we employ a “cut-offs” approach to choice modelling to filter inconsistent responses and to reduce hypothetical market bias. Three major findings are that (i) many people choose options which violate their stated maximum trip price (ii) the cut-offs approach changes parameter estimates and thus willingness to pay estimates; and that (ii) that tourists do not have a significant demand for how much of tourism spending is channelled to local communities

Differences between Decision and Experienced Utility: An Investigation using the Choice Experiment method

Recent work by Kahneman and others has led to a new focus in economics on a wellbeing-based approach to utility. This suggests that ‘experienced utility’ is an alternative and more appropriate basis for the measurement of economic value compared with ‘decision utility’. In this paper, we apply the choice experiment technique to the valuation of changes in upland landscapes in the UK, in order to identify if experience in the moment or in memory impacts on the value associated with changes in ecosystem services under different management regimes. Four treatments are employed to measure decision utility, experienced utility, and remembered utility at two different time intervals. We show that our experienced utility treatment generates very different estimates of preferences than any of the other treatments. Whilst measurement of experienced utility is rife with difficulties, the approach taken allowed the identification of experiential impacts on utility and may have implications for the future use of experienced utility as a basis for the valuation of public goods

What are the consequences of ignoring attributes in choice experiments? An application to ecosystem service values

This paper investigates the sensitivity of choice experiment values for ecosystem services to “attribute non-attendance”. We consider three cases of attendance, namely that people may always, sometimes or never pay attention to a given attribute in making their choices. This allows a series of models to be estimated which address the following questions: To what extent do respondents attend to attributes in choice experiments? What is the impact of alternative strategies for dealing with attribute non-attendance? Can respondents self-report non-attendance? Do respondents partially attend to attributes, and what are the implications of this for willingness to pay estimates? Our results show that allowing for the instance of “sometimes attending” to attributes in making choices offers advantages over methods employed thus far in the literature