Consumer attitudes toward GM food with hypothetical functional characteristics

Since their introduction in the early 1990s, genetically modified organisms in agriculture tended to emphasize improved yield. Europeans, perceiving unacceptable risk and too little benefit, resoundingly disapproved of GMO use in agro-food processes. More recently, research has turned to developing products that use GMO components that better match consumer interest, including nutritionally enhanced foods, environmentally friendly crops, and other areas. The question that arises is whether Europeans perceive that the new, prospective benefits outweigh the olds risks, opening the market to such products. This paper investigates consumer preferences for a number of hypothetical genetic modifications in a widely consumed food product: yoghurt. We explore the issue using discrete-choice, multi-attribute, stated-preference data. Our analysis of the data shows that consumers attribute low importance to prospected benefits in judging gene technology applications. Moreover, data demonstrates that consumers dont feel that labels and certification alone offer sufficient safeguards from perceived danger. Conversely, better information through scientific research does seem to have an impact.GMOs, functional properties, willingness to pay, choice modelling, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,

Natural disturbances and natural hazards in mountain forests: a framework for the economic valuation

This paper focuses on the economic aspects of the protective role of forests against natural hazards, developing an estimation methodology applicable on a local scale. We identified the main variables that influence on a local level those forest attributes involved directly or indirectly in protection with the aim of zoning forests in homogeneous areas in terms of the level of protection they offer. Applying the replacement cost method a monetary value of the protective function can be estimated for homogeneous zones. The zoning permits the cost of replacement works to be calculated precisely according to the characteristics of the territory in each zone. The methodology was tested in the province of Trento (North East Italy) in an area where forests serve multiple functions and where the social objectives are intimately linked to those of indirect protection of the mountain slopes and direct protection of human activities. The estimation of the protective function of mountain forests enables environmental concerns to be included in economic decision-making by integrating economic and ecological approaches. It could be useful as a criterion for ranking different forest management options, i.e. forest management approaches based on the principle of close-to-nature forestry with management forms that focus on the productive function of forests. Accordingly it could enable forest managers to build consensus around management forms that take into account natural hazards and natural disturbances.

Does forest damage have an economic impact? A case study from the Italian Alps

The aim of this paper is to take stock of the situation regarding the main types of damage to forests and their respective economic consequences, with reference to a case study in the Italian Alps (Trentino province). Each kind of damage (wind and snow, defoliation, fire and tillage) has been analysed in terms of its impact on four forest functions (production, protection, tourism-recreation and carbon sequestration) and evaluated in monetary terms. Market value was used to estimate the production and carbon sequestration functions, replacement cost method for protection, and contingent valuation for tourism-recreation. Applying desk research on damage caused by the main biotic and abiotic factors to this particular case study led to estimate a annual damage of about € 1,633,595 equal to € 4.73 per hectar. This can be considered a lower bound estimate of possibly greater damage. Another interesting result emerged from the evaluation exercise is that the wealth of information produced through monitoring and scientific research in the last twenty years does not readily lend itself to economic analysis.forest damage, forest functions, interaction between damage and functions, economic valuation, Alpine forests

Do Monetary Incentives and Chained Questions Affect the Validity of Risk Estimates Elicited via the Exchangeability Method? An Experimental Investigation

Using a laboratory experiment, we investigate the validity of stated risks elicited via the Exchangeability Method (EM) by defining a valuation method based on de Finetti’s notion of coherence. The reliability of risk estimates elicited through the EM has been theoretically questioned because the chained structure of the game, in which each question depends on the respondent’s answer to the previous one, is thought to potentially undermine the incentive compatibility of the elicitation mechanism even when real monetary incentives are provided. Our results suggest that superiority of real monetary incentives is not evident when people are presented with chained experimental designlab experiment, risk elicitation, exchangeability, validity, pesticide residue

Real Monetary Incentives and Chained Questions: An Experimental Study Investigating the Validity of Risk Estimates Elicited via Exchangeability Method

Risk and Uncertainty,

Including Value Orientations in Choice Models to Estimate Benefits of Wildlife Management Policies

Value orientations towards wildlife affect the way people perceive nature and their connection with animals. In particular, the social psychological literature within the environmental field suggests that there are two main orientations of people towards wildlife: mutualism and domination. This body of literature has shown how wildlife value orientations can serve as predictors of attitudes and behaviours toward wildlife and form the foundation of human-wildlife conflicts. A common approach in the non-market valuation literature is to include information on attitudes and values in the deterministic part of the utility function, leading to problems of endogeneity bias. To avoid this, analysts have recently shifted their attention to approaches based on latent variables. This paper presents an application of a latent variable and latent class model, to understand how latent orientations influence choices, in a case study in the Italian Alps. The intuition is that different underlying individual value orientation affects preferences and the level of willingness to pay and should be therefore considered in choice models. The latent variable is used to explain class membership of respondents. Results indicate that the latent variable has a significant effect in class allocation and that the hybrid model performs better than a simple two class model. Results provide guidance on the social acceptability of management interventions and can support public decision-makers in the modulation of wildlife management policies for balancing the needs of conservation and outdoor recreation, explicitly considering existing human-wildlife conflicts

Including value orientations in choice models to estimate benefits of wildlife management policies (Forthcoming)

Value orientations towards wildlife affect the way people perceive nature and their connection with animals. In particular, the social psychological literature within the environmental field suggests that there are two main orientations of people towards wildlife: mutualism and domination. This body of literature has shown how wildlife value orientations can serve as predictors of attitudes and behaviours toward wildlife and form the foundation of human-wildlife conflicts. A common approach in the non-market valuation literature is to include information on attitudes and values in the deterministic part of the utility function, leading to problems of endogeneity bias. To avoid this, analysts have recently shifted their attention to approaches based on latent variables. This paper presents an application of a latent variable and latent class model, to understand how latent orientations influence choices, in a case study in the Italian Alps. The intuition is that different underlying individual value orientation affects preferences and the level of willingness to pay and should be therefore considered in choice models. The latent variable is used to explain class membership of respondents. Results indicate that the latent variable has a significant effect in class allocation and that the hybrid model performs better than a simple two class model. Results provide guidance on the social acceptability of management interventions and can support public decision-makers in the modulation of wildlife management policies for balancing the needs of conservation and outdoor recreation, explicitly considering existing human-wildlife conflicts

Tourists' perceptions and willingness to pay for the control of Opuntia stricta invasion in protected areas: A case study from South Africa

Invasive alien plants have a long history of establishment in the national parks of South Africa.In particular, Opuntia stricta (sour prickly pear) has invaded several protected areas in thecountry, threatening the biodiversity conservation mandate of these conservation areas. Thisarticle focuses on the economic estimation of O. stricta's negative impacts in protected areas byusing Contingent Valuation surveys conducted amongst a sample of tourists in the PilanesbergNational Park (North West Parks and Tourism Board, South Africa). Tourists' familiarity andawareness of selected invasive alien plants and their willingness to pay for the implementationof a control programme for O. stricta were assessed. The results show that many tourists arefamiliar with invasive alien plants and their (positive and negative) impacts and, in particular,perceived the presence of O. stricta to be negative, due to the impacts on aesthetics and recreation.Socio-demographic characteristics, as well as individual attitudes and biocentric beliefs, have aninfluence on the willingness to contribute financially to a control programme for O. stricta. Theindividual willingness to pay assessment found that the majority of respondents (78%) werewilling to pay a higher entrance fee (an additional R57.30 or $7.00 per day) for a hypotheticalprogramme to control the invasion of O. stricta in the Pilanesberg National Park.Conservation implications: The willingness of tourists to pay for O. stricta managementprovides useful insights in the decision-making process of park management. The resultsare encouraging, since, in general, tourists are aware of the problem and are in support ofproviding additional economic input for preventing future alien plant invasions