Household's willingness-to-pay estimation for safe drinking water: a case study in Vietnam

2013 Spring.Includes bibliographical references.This thesis explores consumer behavior of households for drinking water by surveying and analyzing 235 households (HHs) in Hanoi and Hai Duong in the North of Vietnam, and Ho Chi Minh in South of Vietnam. Two classical methods have been employed, Contingent valuation method (CVM) and averting behavior method (ABM). Binary logit regression can help to identify internal and external factors influencing the decision of whether or not to pay for clean drinking water. In addition, the linear regression method allows to explore and to quantify the magnitude of relationship between the dependent variable and independent variables. Generally, about half of the households surveyed are willing to pay for better drinking water. Most of them are HHs living in two major cities, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. On average for all of the sampled households, the value of willingness-to-pay makes up small percentage of household income, just 0.247% of total household income. The decision to pay for water depends on both internal factors: the level of education and awareness, as well as external factors: living conditions and existing water source. For those households that are willing to pay to get clean water services, income, and current status of water resources are strong variables. In addition, those households that are actively looking for information and learning related to water often pay a fee for water use. Different measures are practiced by HH's to prevent diseases caused by possible polluted drinking water. Of the five averting activities, boiling water is HHs' priority in rural areas due to low cost while buying bottled water is HH's choice in the city because of the convenience. Young people tend to use bottled water more than old people. Using a water filter increases amount of money they would be willing to pay for clean water, while income and habitat of using drinking water are also strong factors in determining willingness to pay a higher monthly water bill. This survey has compared two values: the value of WTP and the cost of averting expenditure (CAE). My results showed that WTP is not always greater than CAE. Empirical results have policy implications on drinking water price strategies and drinking water related projects investment in Vietnam. Policy-makers or planners should consider income, gender, level of education, existing water sources, lifestyles, and locale when making drinking water price strategies and water related investment

Về khả năng ứng dụng của hệ xử lý thông tin 3D và nguyên lý bán dẫn giá trị trong tìm kiếm giải pháp cho vấn đề ô nhiễm môi trường và biến đổi khí hậu ở Việt Nam

Giải quyết biến đổi khí hậu và ô nhiễm môi trường đang và sẽ là thách thức lớn của nhân loại trong thế kỷ 21. Con người không còn nhiều thời gian để sửa chữa, phục hồi đưa hệ sinh thái môi trường (tự nhiên) trở về trạng thái an toàn. Trong khi các nỗ lực trong thời gian qua chưa thực sự hiệu quả thì COP26 mở ra cơ hội lớn để nhân loại tiến gần đến mục tiêu kiềm chế nhiệt độ của trái đất không vượt quá 1.5 độ C. Mặc dù Việt Nam cùng với 146 quốc gia trên thế giới đã có cam kết mạnh mẽ nhất trong việc giảm phát thải vào năm 2050, tuy nhiên việc cụ thể hóa cam kết thông qua các giải pháp sáng tạo là rất quan trọng. Sử dụng (áp dụng, vận dụng) hệ sáng tạo 3D và nguyên lý bán dẫn giá trị, tác giả đề xuất hệ sinh thái “giải pháp trụ cột” cần thực hiện gồm có tăng cường thông tin, truyền thông, nghiên cứu khoa học về môi trường (biến đổi khí hậu, ô nhiễm môi trường...); xây dựng, chuyển đổi và nâng cao văn hóa và môi trường; đẩy mạnh phát triển kinh tế gia tăng phúc lợi; xây dựng (chuyển đổi) lớp doanh nhân có văn hóa, trách nhiệm môi trường; tăng cường mở rộng sự hợp tác quốc tế về mọi mặt đặc biệt là trong lĩnh vực kinh tế, truyền thông và khoa học; và thực thi các giải pháp nêu trên một cách kỷ luật

How do we perceive serendipity?

In order to set a ground for the new hypotheses, theory, and conceptual framework of serendipity, the current chapter aims to review the research landscapes, definitions, types, influential factors, and processes of serendipity. First, bibliometric analyses of 2982 documents retrieved from the Web of Science database were employed to examine the intellectual and conceptual structures in the research field of serendipity. Three major research lines are found: 1) information-seeking behaviors, 2) serendipity in business and sciences, and 3) serendipity in recommender systems. Then, a narrative review of the most notable documents and studies was done to overview the serendipity’s definitions, types, influential factors, and processes. Based on the review, we stipulate the literature gap in which the newly proposed hypotheses, theory, and conceptual framework will fit in

Suy ngẫm về trí thức tinh hoa

Giới trí thức (giới tinh hoa) có vai trò quan trọng vào quá trình xây dựng và phát triển đất nước. Và điều quan trọng là trí thức đóng góp vào sự “thức tỉnh” xã hội [1]. Trí thức mạnh thì khoa học mạnh, khoa học mạnh thì dân trí tăng cao (khai/tăng dân trí), dân trí cao thì đất nước thịnh cường văn minh (hậu dân sinh). Muốn có tầng lớp trí thức mạnh thì phải tìm ra được trí thức thật và sau đó tạo điều kiện phù hợp để họ phát triển, đóng góp/cống hiến cho đất nước

Mindspongeconomics

Mindspongeconomics (mindspongecon) is a social science theory (a new type of economics) that studies decision-making processes that are based on the think-absorb-eject mechanism, with the input being information particles from the living environment. Mindspongecon is a combination and expansion of Mindsponge theory and behavioral economics. This is a filter-based information processing system with an evaluation mechanism linked to pre-set core values. These values and the information received are the basis for actors such as individuals, households, businesses, and governments to compare, evaluate, and ultimately make decisions. The speed of this decision-making process depends on the speed of information processing and the clarity, detail, and priority of core values in their mindset or perception

Cultural additivity – means of human survival and evolution

This week, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced the names of Nobel laureates in different fields. This year, the Nobel Prize in Biomedical Sciences was awarded to Swedish geneticist Svante Paabo for his discoveries concerning the DNA sequence of apes and human evolution. His work is especially meaningful as the question of human origin has long been a major concern to mankind. Modern-day wise humans belong to the genus Homo sapiens, along with seven ancient human races that existed millions of years ago. Over time, many species became extinct and Professor Paabo discovered the gene transfer of these extinct species to Homo sapiens. With this discovery, he laid the foundation for other scientists to continue to search for the origin of modern humans

Estimating Urban Households’ Willingness-to-Pay for Upland Forest Restoration in Vietnam

Increased urbanization coupled with increased reliance of urban communities on rural areas for ecosystem service provision is a challenge faced by many nations. The ability of urban households to directly support restoration efforts in surrounding rural regions represents an underappreciated funding stream for ecological restoration. This study explored the willingness of urban households to support forest restoration in Vietnam. We surveyed 211 households (HHs) in the capital city Hanoi, Vietnam. A Maximum Likelihood Estimator (MLE) model allowed us to obtain the parameters of our model and quantify mean Willingness-to-Pay (WTP) for a program of forest restoration in addition to identifying factors influencing the decision of WTP. Generally, over forty percent of the households surveyed are willing to pay for forest restoration and the mean value of WTP is 37,830 VND ($1.73) per household per month. WTP depends on endogenous and exogenous factors including level of education, income, female-to-male ratio in the household, attitude toward payment for monthly electricity consumption, and awareness of payment for environmental service. Our results suggest that urban household’s demand for forest restoration is real, and represents an untapped source of restoration funding. Policy-makers should take actions to apply charges on water bills to turn this potential into reality for restoration projects in Vietnam if the benefits from restoration outweigh the costs based on our findings

Environments and cultures that nurture serendipity strikes

Based on the properties and mechanism of serendipity presented in former chapters, this chapter discusses how to create an environment for higher serendipity encounters and attainment possibilities. We examine four types of environments with different navigational and useful information concentration combinations. Building a pro-serendipity culture will help create environments that value and supports serendipity across fields. Additionally, we also address the notion that serendipity is a skill. Thus, it can produce either good or bad impacts on a collective level, depending on the ultimate purposes behind it

Revisiting the floppy-eared-rabbit serendipity circumstance

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