Mark J. Koetse

The value of urban open space: Meta-analyses of contingent valuation and hedonic pricing results

Urban open space provides a number of valuable services to urban populations, including recreational opportunities, aesthetic enjoyment, environmental functions, and may also be associated with existence values. In separate meta-analyses of the contingent valuation (CV) and hedonic pricing (HP) literature we examine which physical, socio-economic, and study characteristics determine the value of open space. The dependent variable in the CV meta-regression is defined as the value of open space per hectare per year in 2003 US

Adaptation to Climate Change in the Transport Sector

, and in the HP model as the percentage change in house price for a 10 m decrease in distance to open space. Using a multi-level modelling approach we find in both the CV and HP analyses that there is a positive and significant relationship between the value of urban open space and population density, indicating that scarcity and crowdedness matter, and that the value of open space does not vary significantly with income. Further, urban parks are more highly valued than other types of urban open space (forests, agricultural and undeveloped land) and methodological differences in study design have a large influence on estimated values from both CV and HP. We also find important regional differences in preferences for urban open space, which suggests that the potential for transferring estimated values between regions is likely to be limited.

Correcting for Primary Study Misspecifications in Meta-Analysis

In this study, we review the literature on climate change adaptation measures in the transport sector. Many of the measures proposed are rather conceptual and far from concrete, probably due to the fact that climate change effects on transport are either unknown or highly uncertain. Given the limited information on the potential magnitude of climate damages and the various uncertainties involved, postponement of adaptation investments may well be the most sensible strategy at the moment, especially when investments are substantial and irreversible. Furthermore, monitoring of relevant climatic changes and ongoing research into climate change effects are important elements of a pro-active adaptation strategy. Irreversible decisions, such as the ones on spatial organization, likely require a more active strategy, e.g. in the form of making spatial reservations. We further discuss the interdependency between optimal mitigation and adaptation, an issue that is often overlooked in the literature. Finally, most operators and governmental bodies are not used to dealing with risk and uncertainty, and generally base their decisions on single risk values only, likely leading to under- or overinvestment. We discuss several relevant topics in this area and highlight methods that can be used to better deal with these issues.

The Impact of Uncertainty on Investment: A Meta-Analysis

In non-experimental sciences the errors associated with model misspecifications in primarystudies carry over to meta-analysis. We use Monte Carlo simulations to analyse the effects ofthese misspecifications on results of a meta-analysis using a meta-estimator that calculates asimple average effect and a meta-estimator that includes dummy variables to control forprimary study misspecification. The results show that using the dummy variable model goes along way in mitigating the negative effects of error propagation on the bias and mean squarederror of the meta-estimator, and the size and the power of statistical tests. Although primarystudy misspecifications can usually be observed and controlled for in a meta-analysis, themore complex interactions between these observed characteristics are far more difficult tocontrol for in practice. Our results show that these interactions may, however, substantiallyaffect the outcomes of a meta-analysis. When meta-analysis is used to look for a ‘true’ effectrather than for analysing variation in outcomes, our results provide an argument for studyselection on model quality to avoid the impact of error propagation in meta-analysis.

The Impact of Effect Size Heterogeneity on Meta-Analysis: A Monte Carlo Experiment

In this paper we perform a meta-analysis on empirical estimates of the impact between investment and uncertainty. Since the outcomes of primary studies are largely incomparable with respect to the magnitude of the effect, our analysis focuses on the direction and statistical significance of the relationship. The standard approach in this situation is to estimate an ordered probit model on a categorical estimate, defined in terms of the direction of the effect. The estimates are transformed into marginal effects, in order to represent the changes in the probability of finding a negative significant, insignificant, and positive significant estimate. Although a meta-analysis generally does not allow for inferences on the correctness of model specifications in primary studies, our results give clear directions for model building in empirical investment research. For example, not including factor prices in investment models may seriously affect the model outco! mes. Furthermore, we find that Q-models produce more negative significant estimates than other models do, ceteris paribus. The outcome of a study is also affected by the type of data used in a primary study. Although it is clear that meta-analysis cannot always give decisive insights into the explanations for the variation in empirical outcomes, our meta-analysis shows that we can explain to a large extent why empirical estimates of the investment-uncertainty relationship differ.

Assessing landscape preferences: a visual choice experiment in the agricultural region of Märkische Schweiz, Germany

In this paper we use Monte Carlo simulation to investigate the impact of effect size heterogeneity on the results of a meta-analysis. Specifically, we address the small sample behaviour of the OLS, the fixed effects regression and the mixed effects meta-estimators under three alternative scenarios of effect size heterogeneity. We distinguish heterogeneity in effect size variance, heterogeneity due to a varying true underlying effect across primary studies, and heterogeneity due to a non-systematic impact of omitted variable bias in primary studies. Our results show that the mixed effects estimator is to be preferred to the other two estimators in the first two situations. However, in the presence of random effect size variation due to a non-systematic impact of omitted variable bias, using the mixed effects estimator may be suboptimal. We also address the impact of sample size and show that meta-analysis sample size is far more effective in reducing meta-estimator variance and increasing the power of hypothesis testing than primary study sample size.

Economic valuation methods for ecosystem services

Abstract Natural amenities and the aesthetic value of agricultural landscapes are important territorial assets for improving rural tourism and the quality of the living environment. To identify which characteristics shape the visual quality of a landscape, a stated-preference survey was conducted (N = 200) using photorealistic landscape visualisations of four different landscape attributes (point green elements, linear green elements, crop diversity and presence of livestock). We estimated respondents’ preferences for landscape attributes, examined the extent of agreement among respondents and identified socio-economic factors influencing their responses. Results revealed that point elements had the highest general preference. About 70% of respondents preferred diverse and highly structured landscapes, while about 30% of respondents had opposing preferences. Preferences were also found to be dependent on the individual’s sociocultural background, such as their level of education, gender or age. These results can help to improve the multi-objective targeting of policies by including an aesthetic value perspective.

Economic Values of Ecosystem Services

Introduction Various valuation methods exist and have been applied to estimate the values of different ecosystem services. The methods reflect the extent to which the services provided by ecosystems touch on the welfare of society either as direct determinants of individuals’ well-being (e.g. as consumer goods) or via production processes (e.g. as intermediate goods). The aim of this chapter is to provide an overview of available valuation methods, to discuss their advantages and disadvantages, and to provide guidance on when to use which method. In doing so we do not aim to be comprehensive; extensive details of the underlying theory and on the actual practice of applying the valuation methods are provided in general texts, including Braden and Kolstad (1991), Freeman (2003), Bateman et al . (2002), Mitchell and Carson (1989), Champ et al . (2003), Bockstael and McConnell (2007), and Kanninen (2007). A number of economic valuation methods have been developed to estimate the value of changes in ecosystem services. An important distinction is between market-based and non-market-based valuation methods. Market-based valuation means that existing market behavior and market transactions are used as the basis for the valuation exercise. Economic values are derived from actual market prices for ecosystem services, both when they are used as inputs in production processes (production values) and when they provide direct outputs (consumption values). By observing how much of an ecosystem service is bought and sold at different prices, it is possible to infer directly how people value that good. Examples of market-based methods are the use of direct market prices, net factor income and production function methods, and the calculation of replacement costs, defensive expenditures, and avoided damage costs.

Accounting for Implicit and Explicit Payment Vehicles in Beach Site Selection Choice Experiments

Introduction Ecosystems provide important commodities and environmental benefits to society. As such, the management of ecosystems is an economic, social, and political issue encompassing all sectors of an economy. It involves trade-offs between competing uses and users, as well as between additional economic growth, ecosystem protection, and further natural resource depletion and degradation. Any particular use of ecosystems has its opportunity costs, consisting of the foregone benefits from possible alternative uses of the resource, including non-use. Decision-makers are faced with balancing these varied resource uses, for example, between freshwater demands from agricultural irrigation on the one hand, and the desire to protect rivers for fish and wildlife habitat on the other hand. Striking a balance between the trade-offs of economic growth and ecosystem resource use, possibly leading to their degradation and depletion, is crucial for the sustainable management of our natural resources. Economic valuation contributes to an improved natural resource allocation by informing decision-makers on the full social costs of ecosystem exploitation and the full social benefits of the goods and services that healthy ecosystems provide. This chapter addresses the various dimensions of economic and social value, before explaining the different valuation and evaluation techniques in Chapters 6 and 7, respectively.

Crowdfunding public goods: An experiment

ABSTRACT This study estimates the benefits of beach quality improvements, using travel costs as an implicit and entrance fee as an explicit payment vehicle in two otherwise identical labelled discrete choice site selection models. Including entrance fee as an explicit payment vehicle in addition to implicit travel costs is expected to affect beach visitors’ preferences and willingness to pay (WTP) since travel costs only are not expected to measure maximum WTP. Convergent validity of preference parameters and WTP derived from the two identical discrete choice experiments (DCEs) is tested using a split-sample approach and specifying a mixed logit choice model. Both preferences and scale parameters are significantly different between the two samples. As expected, mean WTP values are higher when an explicit entrance fee is included in the DCE. Our results suggest that implicit payment vehicles in choice experiments underestimate welfare changes. Beach visitors’ positive WTP holds promise for the introduction of economic instruments such as entrance fees to support the financial sustainability of improved beach management.