Experimental designs for environmental valuation with choice-experiments: A Monte Carlo investigation

We review the practice of experimental design in the environmental economics literature concerned with choice experiments. We then contrast this with advances in the field of experimental design and present a comparison of statistical efficiency across four different experimental designs evaluated by Monte Carlo experiments. Two different situations are envisaged. First, a correct a priori knowledge of the multinomial logit specification used to derive the design and then an incorrect one. The data generating process is based on estimates from data of a real choice experiment with which preference for rural landscape attributes were studied. Results indicate the D-optimal designs are promising, especially those based on Bayesian algorithms with informative prior. However, if good a priori information is lacking, and if there is strong uncertainty about the real data generating process - conditions which are quite common in environmental valuation - then practitioners might be better off with conventional fractional designs from linear models. Under misspecification, a design of this type produces less biased estimates than its competitors

Evaluating Research Activity:Impact Factor vs. Research Factor

The Impact Factor (IF) “has moved ... from an obscure bibliometric indicator to become the chief quantitative measure of the quality of a journal, its research papers, the researchers who wrote those papers, and even the institution they work in” ([2], p. 1). However, the use of this index for evaluating individual scientists is dubious. The present work compares the ranking of research units generated by the Research Factor (RF) index with that associated with the popular IF. The former, originally introduced in [38], reflects article and book publications and a host of other activities categorized as coordination activities (e.g., conference organization, research group coordination), dissemination activities (e.g., conference and seminar presentations, participation in research group), editorial activities (e.g., journal editor, associate editor, referee) and functional activities (e.g., Head of Department). The main conclusion is that by replacing the IF with the RF in hiring, tenure decisions and awarding of grants would greatly increase the number of topics investigated and the number and quality of long run projects.scientific research assessment, Impact Factor, bibliometric indices, feasible Research Factor

Challenges In Managing Natural Resources: A Short Review Of Economic Instruments

As planetary boundaries impose a wider sustainable management of natural resources within private and public sectors, scientists, economists and practitioners are challenged to cooperate to promote newer strategies for natural resources. The framework of Ecosystem Services is paving a new way to bridge cross-discipline research. This short article reviews the Ecosystem Services classification and suggests economic methods and approaches that could play an important role in improving the management of natural resources. The review presents economic methods and approaches which can support broadening the application of Ecosystem Services framework and cross-discipline collaboration

A Choice Modelling Approach for Assessment of Use and Quasi-Option Values in Urban Planning for Areas of Environmental Interest

This study adopts a discrete choice modelling methodology to evaluate individuals’ preferences over planning alternatives for an urban site of environmental interest. Since such projects involve some uncertainty and irreversibility, a special attention is devoted to the estimation of the quasi-option values which are associated to project development. Two distinct measures for the quasi-option value are estimated, and both coefficients indicate that the public places a significant value on reduction of the possibility of adverse irreversible effects: a more prudent development strategy is valued about four times more than a procedure that provides a lesser hedge against undesired outcomes. Furthermore, the study involved elicitation of intertemporal preferences over projects with different time spans, and estimation of the implicit discount rates: the values obtained seem high if compared to standard discount rates applied to public projects, but not far from current interest rates on consumption.Urban Planning, Environmental Values, Choice Modelling, Use Values, Quasi-option Values, Discounting

Revealed and stated preference valuation and transfer: A within-sample comparison of water quality improvement values

Benefit transfer (BT) methods are becoming increasingly important for environmental policy, but the empirical findings regarding transfer validity are mixed. A novel valuation survey was designed to obtain both stated preference (SP) and revealed preference (RP) data concerning river water quality values from a large sample of households. Both dichotomous choice and payment card contingent valuation (CV) and travel cost (TC) data were collected. Resulting valuations were directly compared and used for BT analyses using both unit value and function transfer approaches. WTP estimates are found to pass the convergence validity test. BT results show that the CV data produce lower transfer errors, below 20% for both unit value and function transfer, than TC data especially when using function transfer. Further, comparison of WTP estimates suggests that in all cases, differences between methods are larger than differences between study areas. Results show that when multiple studies are available, using welfare estimates from the same area but based on a different method consistently results in larger errors than transfers across space keeping the method constant.ESRS - SEER projectEU DG Research - AquaMoney projec

Local conditions for the decentralization of energy systems

Local energy systems (LES) are designed to decarbonise, balance, and coordinate supply, storage, and demand resources. Which local conditions enable LES to flourish? Using a unique dataset of 146 LES projects in the UK from 2010-2020, we apply econometric methods to identify energy, institutional and socioeconomic conditions significantly associated with LES, but not other local energy forms. We show distributed power generation, low-carbon infrastructure firm activity, local government strategy, and active energy efficiency markets are enablers of LES involving multiple actors, sectors, and skill sets. These conditions describe a clear policy agenda for stimulating and supporting emerging local energy markets

Strategie di miglioramento della Customer Retention attraverso la metodologia del CRM analitico

Si presenta un'analisi volta al miglioramento della customer retention all'interno di un'azienda operante come express point nel settore logistico. Il contesto di riferimento porta ad un accesso limitato alle informazioni e dunque all'impossibilità di conoscere approfonditamente le caratteristiche del proprio parco clienti, pur dovendo mantenere standard di servizio elevati. L'obiettivo risulta essere quello di mettere l'azienda nelle condizioni di poter prendere decisioni in merito alla gestione delle relazioni con i propri clienti. Le analisi implementate a tale scopo riguardano l'analisi dei servizi, dei clienti e della profittabilità rispettivamente dei servizi e dei clienti, dovendo però superare, in quest'ultimo caso, problemi legati all'assenza di modelli di allocazione dei costi indiretti, idonei al fine di determinare la complessità eeffettiva di tutti i clienti. Per superare tale problema si propone all'azienda un modello di costing la cui implementazione richiede, a causa delle limitate risorse a disposizione, di concentrare l'attenzione su di un sottoinsieme proprio del parco clienti, individuato tramite l'utilizzo di tecniche di segmentazione. Si propongono dunque all'azienda strumenti e tecniche di analisi finalizzate alla creazione di informazioni parallele rispetto a quelle fornite dall'azienda affiliante

Local conditions for the decentralization of energy systems

Local energy systems (LES) are designed to decarbonize, balance, and coordinate supply, storage and demand resources. Which local conditions enable LES to flourish? Using a unique dataset of 146 LES projects in the UK from 2010 to 2020, we apply econometric methods to identify energy, institutional and socio-economic conditions significantly associated with LES, but not other local energy forms. We show distributed power generation, low-carbon infrastructure firm activity, local government strategy and active energy efficiency markets are enablers of LES involving multiple actors, sectors and skill sets. These conditions describe a clear policy agenda for stimulating and supporting emerging local energy markets

Good Parks – Bad Parks: The Influence of Perceptions of Location on WTP and Preference Motives for Urban Parks

Urban parks generate substantial public benefits yet explicit economic assessments of such values remain relatively rare. Surveys of willingness to pay (WTP) were undertaken to assess such values for proposed new parks. The analysis assessed how preference motives and values varied according to the location of parks. Results revealed greater altruistic motivation and higher overall values for the creation of inner city as opposed to suburban parks. Spatial decomposition revealed that, after controlling for other determinants such as incomes, values generally increase for households closer to proposed parks, but that a significant downturn in values is evident for households located very close to a proposed inner city park; a finding which echoes concerns regarding the potential for such sites to provide a focus for antisocial behaviour. While these findings provide strong overall support for provision of public parks they highlight the importance of perceptions of location and the potential for localised dis-benefit

Contingent behavior and odor nuisances. The case of "Le Cortine" selection and composting plant in the Province of Siena

Recent regulation on waste fees establishes the change from tax to tariff to cover the total management cost of the collection and selection services. It does not consider the external costs (externalities). This causes a distortion in the system of relative prices. In this paper, we focus on one particular type of externality: the odour due to the waste treatment and we estimate the damage produced by a selection and composting centre. In the literature, we can find different hedonic price and contingent valuation studies that aim to estimate individual willingness to pay (WTP) to improve air quality reducing contaminants with (direct or indirect) effects on human health. However, few studies focus on reversible externalities, such as odour. This study intends to enrich the literature on this area. To the authors’ knowledge, it is the first attempt to estimate the WTP to reduce odour emissions due to a selection and composting centre. Considering the peculiarity of the case study, we produce our estimates with the relatively new method of Contingent Behaviour.Contingent Behaviour, odor nuisance, external effects.