Preliminary Results of a Survey of Farm Animal Biodiversity Conservation Actions in Europe Under the Framework of Agenda 2000

In this paper we report on preliminary results of a research aimed to examine the content of farm animal biodiversity conservation actions currently under implementation in the European Union in the framework of EU Agenda 2000. In particular, we surveyed sixty-three Rural Development Plans (RDPs) set up in twelve countries in application of EEC regulations 1257/99 and 1750/99. Our analysis focused on endangered breeds of six major livestock species included in the RDPs. This analysis, which is based on the comparison with the indicator's status of the DAD-IS FAO database, allowed to identify priorities in conservation efforts in each country, and estimate the level of expected public expenditure needed to ensure the moving of breeds from at-risk (of extinction) status to not-at-risk status over the period 2000-2006.farm animal biodiversity, Agenda 2000, Rural Development Plans., Livestock Production/Industries, Q18, Q20,

Loving Cultural Heritage Private Individual Giving and Prosocial Behavior

The aim of this paper is to analyse patterns of private individual giving to Cultural Heritage institutions in Italy. Based on the emerging economic literature on pro-social behavior, we carried out a Contingent Valuation survey to assess individuals’ willingness to donate to museums and heritage organizations according to different conditions and set of incentives. Our findings reveal that intrinsic motivations and accountability of the recipient institutions may be more effective drivers for eliciting charitable giving than the usually proposed fiscal incentives. The results provide avenues for future empirical research and policy suggestions for fund raising cultural institutions.Charitable Giving, Cultural Heritage, Contingent Valuation, Pro-social Behavior

Loving Cultural Heritage. Private individual giving and prosocial behavior

The aim of this paper is to analyse patterns of private individual giving to Cultural Heritage institutions in Italy. Based on the emerging economic literature on pro-social behavior, we carried out a Contingent Valuation survey to assess individuals’ willingness to donate to museums and heritage organizations according to different conditions and set of incentives. Our findings reveal that intrinsic motivations and accountability of the recipient institutions may be more effective drivers for eliciting charitable giving than the usually proposed fiscal incentives. The results provide avenues for future empirical research and policy suggestions for fund raising cultural institutions.

Contingent valuation and cultural policy design: The case of "Napoli Musei Aperti"

The aim of the paper is twofold: to carry out a contingent valuation study of "Napoli Musei Aperti", a cultural public good provided by the city of Naples, and to explore some alternative schemes of cultural policy. The paper is divided in two parts. In the first one some results from the contingent valuation study are presented. In the second one the use of the contingent valuation as a policy instrument in the public cultural sector is discussed

Farm animal biodiversity conservation activities in Europe under the framework of Agenda 2000

In this paper we examine the content of farm animal biodiversity conservation measurescurrently under implementation in the European Union (EU), as a result of the application of EC Regulations 1257/99 and 1750/99. We surveyed 69 Rural Development Plans (RDPs) set up in EU Member States. Our analysis focuses on six livestock mammalian species: asses, cattle, goats, horses, pigs, and sheep The starting point for our investigation is the Domestic Animals Diversity-Information System (DAD-IS) FAO database which monitors the status of breeds in the world. We compare breeds included in the DAD-IS FAO database with breeds covered by the various RDPs. The analysis highlights that many breeds at risk of extinction according to FAO are not included in the RDPs. The analysis also indicates that the main efforts of the RDPs are devoted to preserving local cattle and sheep breeds. As concerns the financial aspects of livestock biodiversity measures, we note that the payments offered to farmers do not take into account the different probabilities of extinction associated with each breed in each country. Furthermore, we observe that payments do not meet all of the relevant criteria stated in the EEC Regulations. In many cases, we observe that, in spite of the Union's support to farmers, it still remains unprofitable to rear local breeds. These anomalies suggest the need for a revision of the current EU supporting measures related to the conservation of livestock biodiversity. Finally, by using FAO indicators on the current population size of each breed, we estimate the level of expected public expenditure necessary to ensure the upgrading of breeds from thei

One and One-Half Bound Dichotomous Choice Contingent Valuation

To reduce the potential for response bias on the follow-up bid in multiple-bound discrete choice CVM questions while maintaining much of the efficiency gains of the multiple-bound approach, we introduce the one-and-one-half-bound (OOHB) approach. Despite the fact that the OOHB model uses less information than the double-bound (DB) approach, efficiency gains in moving from single-bound to OOHB capture a large portion of the gain associated with moving from single-bound to DB. In an analysis of survey data, our OOHB estimates demonstrated higher consistency with respect to the follow-up data than the DB estimates and were more efficient as well.contingent valuation, double-bound, one-and-one-half bound

Farmer premiums for the voluntary adoption of conservation plans

Utilizing the random utility and random profit difference approaches, we develop a theoretical model that explains why farmers may require a premium in excess of the decrease in profits to adopt a conservation plan. Identification of this risk premium can aid the government in addressing approaches to lowering the costs of encouraging farmers to adopt the conservation programs. Previous work done in this area has not successfully identified this premium We estimate this premium using survey of farmers in conjunction with predictions of changes in production costs. To increase the efficiency of the econometric analysis of survey responses, we use the so-called "one-and-one-half-bound" (OOHB) elicitation format. Furthermore, to test the sensitivity of our estimation results to functional form and distributional specifications, we compare the results utilizing parametric, nonparametric, and semi-nonparametric econometric approaches