Welfare Measurement with Individual Heterogeneity: Economic Valuation of Beach Erosion Control Programs
2005/01/25
研討會日期 : 2005-01-25
時間 : 15:00
主講人 : Prof. Huang, Ju-Chin
地點 : B棟110室
演講者簡介 : Prof. Huang, Ju-Chin為Ph.D. in Economics and Statistics, North Carolina State University (1994)。
現為Associate Professor，University of New Hampshire。
其主要領域為Environmental Valuation及Applied Econometrics。
演講摘要 : Natural resource benefit analysis of a proposed public policy should take into account both the features of the natural resource under consideration as well as the characteristics of the people who are directly or indirectly affected by potential changes to the resource. In this study, we incorporate a choice-based conjoint design into a survey to elicit individual choices of beach erosion control programs that are described in terms of their multiple effects on beach environment. The elicitation method can be used to evaluate any public program or policy with multiple positive and negative effects. Three empirical choice models, designed to model individual heterogeneity, are used to analyze the elicited individual choices of erosion control programs and the estimation results are compared across models. Our results show that to a typical individual, choices of erosion control programs are affected by both the positive and negative impacts of the programs. The economic benefit of an erosion control program to preserve a stretch of sand beach can be exaggerated without taking into account the potential negative impact on the coastal environment caused by the same program. This study demonstrates feasible comparisons of programs (or policies) that account for program effects as well as the demographics of program locations .
