Publication: Welfare Measurement Convergence Through Bias Adjustments in General Population and On-Site Surveys : An Application to Water-Based Recreation at Lake Sevan, Armenia
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Date
2008
ISSN
0022-2216
Published
2008
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This paper compares household survey with on-site survey data for estimating the access value of a unique natural resource using a single-site travel cost model. The household survey model is adjusted for inflated zero observations for respondents who would not visit the site at any observable positive price. The on-site survey model is corrected for truncation and endogenous stratification, the latter being an adjustment for avidity bias. In an application to recreation at Lake Sevan (Armenia), consumer surplus estimates were not statistically different between the household model and the on-site model when zero-inflation and truncation and endogenous stratification are corrected in the respective models. This leads us to believe that either method can be used to derive a consistent welfare measure of access to a recreational site after appropriate adjustments and corrections are made. These results are somewhat reassuring as the choice between household and on-site surveys is often dictated by time and resource availability.
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Publication Welfare Measurement Bias in Household and On-Site Surveying of Water-Based Recreation : An Application to Lake Sevan, Armenia(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2006-06)Studies comparing household surveys with on-site interceptor surveys have typically accounted for over-sampling avid users in the on-site interceptor surveys (that is, endogenous stratification). However, these studies have typically not accounted for the possibility that the household sample may contain a large presence of zero observations. If a large proportion of the population does not recreate at the site for any value of the price vector, this inflation of zero observations leads to biased welfare estimates and an inadequate comparison with the on-site survey. In this paper, the authors estimate and compare three models which correct for these measurement issues in both the household and on-site surveys. Results from an application to recreation at Lake Sevan (Armenia) indicate that household consumers' surplus is not statistically different from that of the on-site survey once the authors account for zero-inflation in the household sample and endogenous stratification in the on-site sample.Publication Estimating Willingness-to-Pay with Random Valuation Models: An Application to Lake Sevan, Armenia(World Bank, Washington, D.C., 2004-08)This paper presents a case study of willingness-to-pay (WTP) estimation using random valuation models. A contingent valuation survey was conducted in Yerevan, Armenia to estimate people's WTP for the protection of Lake Sevan. Three elicitation formats-open-ended, closed-ended, and the stochastic payment card (SPC) approach-were used with split random samples. WTP models with heterogeneous errors were constructed and estimated with the survey data. The SPC approach produces a higher estimation of the mean WTP than both the open-ended and closed-ended approaches, while results from the open-ended and closed-ended elicitation formats are similar. Furthermore, contrary to research findings obtained in the United States, this study finds higher WTP estimations with mail surveys than with personal interviews.Publication Environment as Cultural Heritage : The Armenian Diaspora’s Willingness to Pay to Protect Armenia’s Lake Sevan(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2005-02)This paper presents a study of willingness-to-pay of the Armenian Diaspora in the United States to protect Armenia's Lake Sevan, a unique and precious symbol of the Armenian cultural heritage. Dichotomous choice contingent valuation questions were asked by mail surveys to elicit respondents' willingness to pay for the protection of Lake Sevan. The results show that on average, each household of the Armenian Diaspora in the United States would be willing to provide a one-time donation of approximately US$80 to prevent a further degradation of Lake Sevan, and approximately US$280 to restore the quality of the lake by increasing its water level by 3 meters.Publication How Much of Observed Economic Mobility is Measurement Error? IV Methods to Reduce Measurement Error Bias, with an Application to Vietnam(Oxford University Press on behalf of the World Bank, 2012-06-01)Research on economic growth and inequality inevitably raises issues concerning economic mobility because the relationship between long-run inequality and short-run inequality is mediated by income mobility; for a given level of short-run inequality, greater mobility implies lower long-run inequality. But empirical measures of both inequality and mobility tend to be biased upward due to measurement error in income and expenditure data collected from household surveys. This paper examines how to reduce or remove this bias using instrumental variable methods, and provides conditions that instrumental variables must satisfy to provide consistent estimates. This approach is applied to panel data from Vietnam. The results imply that at least 15 percent, and perhaps as much as 42 percent, of measured mobility is upward bias due to measurement error. The results also suggest that measurement error accounts for at least 12 percent of measured inequality.Publication Design and Implementation of Environmental Performance Rating and Public Disclosure Programs : A Summary of Issues and Recommendations Based on Experiences in East Asian Countries Experiences in East Asian Countries(2011-01-01)A number of countries around the world have in recent years implemented environmental performance rating and public disclosure programs, and, where evidence is available, these programs have been shown to induce pollution reduction. Based on previous research and practical experiences from several Asian countries, this paper provides a systematic review and discussion of the practical issues involved in designing and implementing environmental performance rating and public disclosure programs, including the legal and institutional framework, scope and coverage determination, performance rating methodology, data collection and verification, disclosure strategy, credibility assurance, program set-up and expansion, etc. The authors offer comments and recommendations, where appropriate, for environmental regulators to tackle these practical issues. The reviews and discussions are intended to be concise, simple, and systematic, and alternative options are discussed in a succinct manner, so that they can be readily used by interested environmental regulators and researchers.
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