Description
Book SynopsisNon-market valuation has become a broadly accepted and widely practiced means of measuring the economic values of the environment and natural resources. In this book, the authors provide a guide to the statistical and econometric practices that economists employ in estimating non-market values.
The authors develop the econometric models that underlie the basic methods: contingent valuation, travel cost models, random utility models and hedonic models. They analyze the measurement of non-market values as a procedure with two steps: the estimation of parameters of demand and preference functions and the calculation of benefits from the estimated models. Each of the models is carefully developed from the preference function to the behavioral or response function that researchers observe. The models are then illustrated with datasets that characterize the kinds of data researchers typically deal with.
The real world data and clarity of writing in this book will appeal to environmental economists, students, researchers and practitioners in multilateral banks and government agencies.
Table of ContentsContents: Preface 1. Welfare Economics for Non-market Valuation 2. Parametric Models for Contingent Valuation 3. Distribution-Free Models for Contingent Valuation 4. The Distribution of Willingness to Pay 5. Topics in Discrete Choice Contingent Valuation 6. Modeling the Demand for Recreation 7. Single Site Demand Estimation 8. Site Choice Models 9. Hedonic Price Equations 10. New Directions in Non-market Valuation References A. Maximum Likelihood Estimation B. Some Useful Results Index
