John Wicks

An Application of a Stated Preference Method to Value Urban Amenities

This is a case study analysis of how residents value the amenities of a small US city—Missoula, Montana. A measure of a community’s amenity values is needed in city planning so as to protect those elements of urban communities that are highly valued. Missoulians favoured their local amenities against an average of 30 comparison cities. Results from this study’s stated preference model indicate that Missoulians highly value amenities such as outdoor recreation, low population density and scenery; whereas, they are generally willing to tolerate less than average levels of job opportunities. The study’s results raise questions about the appropriate methods for local governments to pursue when attempting to raise wage rates by ‘growing the economy’ of a city like Missoula.

Buy or burn?: Empirical tests of models of crime using data from a general population

Abstract This study tested models of an individuals choice to copy illegally music using survey data from a random sample of adults who acquired recorded music. It added to the short list of studies of crime based on data from a general population sample and formally tested the added predictive power of an augmented crime model containing variables from both the theory of reasoned action (TRA) and rational choice models. The results supported the desirability of using general population samples and the augmented model. Policies that change attitudes and perceived norms have the potential to reduce crime.

Mothers’ time spent in care of their children and market work: a simultaneous model with attitudes as instruments

Using a model that addresses the potential endogeneity of employment hours on mothers’ child care time and vice versa, by including instruments based on parental attitudes, we find a significant negative (but inelastic) relation between the two time uses.

Market Valuation of Household Production

Household production consists of those goods and services produced by a household for its own use, which alternatively are available for purchase in the marketplace. The courts have long held that the value of household production constitutes a compensable loss in personal injury and wrongful death cases2 This paper critically compares the various approaches to the valuation of household production and argues that the direct measurement of the market value of household output is conceptually superior to other methods. Values of household production estimated on the basis of alternative approaches are presented. For use in forensic applications, estimates based on the direct measurement approach are adjusted for several demographic variables which are shown to have a significant effect on the value of household output.

Direct valuation of personal care by households

This paper valued the quantity of child, sick, and elderly care provided by households using a new, direct measure. Such measures add to the literature that estimates the size of the contribution of non-market work by household members, particularly women, and to literature about valuation of childcare. This production remains unvalued in standard national income accounts. Traditional attempts to quantify this care multiplied care-giver hours by a wage rate, a method that suffers from several drawbacks, including omitting the contributions of anything but labor, the inability to handle joint production, and the use of an arbitrary wage rate. This study avoided these problems by valuing the amount of care with its market price based on data from a small urban area. The mean value was

An Examination of the Antecedents of the Consumer Make-Or-Buy Decision

3,547 annually (97 percent of it childcare) for all sample households and

Measuring the Value of Household Output: A Comparison of Direct and Indirect Approaches

9,610 for those providing care. The results afforded evidence of scale economies in parental childcare and quantified care furnished by different kinds of providers.

Purchase or Pirate: A Model of Consumer Intellectual Property Theft

While businesses compete directly with each other, they also compete indirectly with households. Many of the products/services produced by businesses are also produced within the household and therefore substituted by consumers for purchases. There is limited empirical research in the marketing or related literature about this make-or-buy decision. This research provides a comprehensive review of disparate literatures to concisely specify antecedents/motivations to the make-or-buy decision; develops and tests a measurement protocol to measure the variables which influence the make-or-buy decision; and quantifies the tradeoff values or price differentials needed for consumers to shift from make-to-buy and vice versa. The results indicate that enjoyment, avoiding shopping bother, saving money, and quality are significant reasons consumers make products/services at home rather than buy them.