Level and determinants of willingness to pay for rapid COVID-19 testing delivered through private retail pharmacies in Kenya.

To support the government response to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, accessible and sustainable testing approaches are needed. Private retail pharmacies are a key channel through which communities can access COVID-19 testing. We examined the level and determinants of the willingness to pay (WTP) for rapid COVID-19 testing delivered through private retail pharmacies in Kenya. Data was collected following a cross-sectional double-bounded dichotomous choice contingent valuation survey across 341 clients visiting five private retail pharmacies in Nairobi, Kisumu and Siaya counties. Our findings indicate mean and median WTP levels of KES 611 (US$ 5.59) and KES 506 (US$ 4.63), respectively. Estimated WTP varied across counties and increased with household income and self-reported interest in pharmacy-based COVID-19 rapid testing. These findings can inform price setting, price differentiation, price subsidization and other program design features geared towards enhancing affordability, equity, and uptake.

Estimating the Willingness to Pay for Eco-Labeled Products of Formosan Pangolin (Manis pentadactyla pentadactyla) Conservation

Pangolins are currently the most smuggled mammals in the world. Meanwhile, Taiwan has demonstrated the world’s first case of the use of artificial feeding to raise pangolins to adulthood. The government has also begun to cooperate with farmers in pangolin-spotted areas. Agricultural products can earn the green label once they have passed the evaluation. The challenge is that very few farms have obtained the pangolin-friendly label so far. Our hypothesis is that farmers lack the knowledge that consumers would pay additional money for products that are labeled pangolin-friendly compared to regular ones. Thus, farmers have an insufficient incentive to apply for this label. This research aims to fill this gap by providing people with the necessary knowledge. Contingent valuation with the single-bounded dichotomous choice format was used, which involved investigating 417 valid observations. We found the following: (1) customers are willing to pay about 8.06 USD for pangolin-friendly rice (an increase of 397% in relation to the mean price of rice); (2) customers are willing to pay for about 11.46 USD for pangolin-friendly tea (an increase of 179% in relation to the mean price of tea); and (3) customers are willing to pay about 25.81 USD for pangolin-friendly coffee (an increase of 509% in relation to the mean price of coffee). Our findings give farmers more incentive to conduct eco-friendly production. Consequently, the quality of agricultural products as well as the habitats of endangered pangolins improve. Thus, consumers’ health, the environment, and the future of pangolin conservation can benefit in this attempt to achieve sustainability.

The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Tourists’ WTP: Using the Contingent Valuation Method

This study estimated tourists’ willingness to pay (WTP) for tourist sites or facilities in the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic by applying the dichotomous choice-contingent valuation method to two different tourism destination types. A survey was conducted among domestic tourists in South Korea who had visited destinations within the last six months. We conducted a logistic regression with 1283 effective samples. The results showed differences in tourists’ WTP, depending on type, and the factors affecting WTP differed. Tourists with higher tourism attitude and knowledge of tourism risk exhibited a higher WTP. Tourists with higher perceived risk of infectious disease exhibited less WTP.

Smallholder Households’ Willingness to Pay for Conservation of Ecosystem Services of Alitash National Park, Ethiopia

Background: Despite exceptional ecosystem services are provided by Altash National Park, anthropogenic activities exert immense pressures on the parks’ natural resources from the surrounding community which is eventually degrading the productivity of ecosystem services. Therefore, the aim of this study was economic valuation of ecosystem services of Altash National Park of Ethiopia. Using systematic random sampling 196 sample respondents were selected. Double bounded dichotomous choice followed by open ended format of contingent valuation method was used to state households’ willingness to pay (WTP) and their maximum WTP for conservation of ecosystem services of the park. Seemingly unrelated bivariate probit model was employed to analyse the data. Results: First and second offered bid values, Sex of respondent, Years of living in Kebele, Education status, Distance from home to park, Benefit of preservation, Distance from farm to park, Training on park conservation were found to have statistically significant influence on households’ WTP for improving conservation of ecosystem services of the park. The expected aggregate WTP from double bounded dichotomous choice and open ended format was estimated 1,511,172.96 and 1,526,194.56 birr, respectively. Conclusions: Based on the findings, since all respondents were willing to pay for the conservation of ecosystem services of the park, for every decision and formulation of policies and strategies, participation of local communities should be considered. Finally, regular training and workshop should be delivered for local communities to enhance awareness about the environmental and economic values of the park and to develop sense of ownership.

Consumer willingness-to-pay for restaurant surcharges to reduce carbon emissions: default and information effects

The agriculture and food sectors contribute significantly to greenhouse gas emissions. About 15 percent of food-related carbon emissions are channeled through restaurants. Using a contingent valuation (CV) method with double-bounded dichotomous choice (DBDC) questions, this article investigates U.S. consumers’ willingness to pay (WTP) for an optional restaurant surcharge in support of carbon emission reduction programs. The mean estimated WTP for a surcharge is 6.05 percent of an average restaurant check, while the median WTP is 3.64 percent. Our results show that individuals have a higher WTP when the surcharge is automatically added to restaurant checks. We also find that an information nudge—a short climate change script—significantly increases WTP. Additionally, our results demonstrate that there is heterogeneity in treatment effects across consumers’ age, environmental awareness, and economic views. Our findings suggest that a surcharge program could transfer a meaningful amount of the agricultural carbon reduction burden to consumers that farmers currently shoulder.

Skill, power and marginal contribution in committees

Power is an important basic concept in Political Science and Economics. Applying an extended version of the uncertain dichotomous choice model proposed, the objective of this paper is to clarify the relationship between two different types of power a voter may have: skill-dependent (s-d) power and marginal contribution (mc). It is then shown that, under the optimal committee decision rule, inequality in skills may result in higher inequality of the two types of power and that the distribution of the second type of power (mc) can be even more unequal than the distribution of the first type of s-d power. Using simulations, and assuming evenly spread skills, this possibility is proved to be robust. The significance of the finding is due to the effect of power on reward, whether it is defined in terms of status or in terms of monetary payment.

Willingness to pay for air quality improvement in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

This research aimed to estimate people’s willingness topay (WTP) to improve air quality in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), Vietnam. Contingent value method (CVM), the single bounded dichotomous choice question format, was employed. Five levels of bid were used, including 10,000; 20,000; 30,000; 40,000; 50,000 VND. A survey was conducted with 600 people, distributed in 8 districts. The results showed that people had limited perception on specific terms, but they understood the phenomenon and the consequence of air pollution. The mean willingness to pay (MWTP) for air quality improvement was 19,147.06 VND/person per month (0.83 USD/person per month) (with protesters) and28,157.01 VND/person per month (1.22 USD/person per month) (without protesters). The total budget that would be used for air protection in HCMC was 86,927,652,400VND/month (3,779,463.15 USD/month) (with protesters) and 127,832,825,400 VND/month (5,557,557.62 USD/month)(without protesters). The income, education level and bid level were the factors affecting their WTP

Preschoolers' Comprehension of Functional Metaphors

Previous work suggests that preschoolers cannot understand metaphors based on abstract similarities, such as shared functions. However, recent work suggests that preschoolers are already capable of relational reasoning, suggesting that the cognitive foundations for metaphor comprehension develop earlier than previously believed. Using novel paradigms, three experiments explored whether preschoolers (N = 200, ages 4-5) were capable of understanding metaphors based on functional similarities. In Experiment 1, both preschoolers and adults (N = 48) rated functional metaphors as “smarter” than nonsense statements. In Experiment 2, preschoolers preferred functional explanations over perceptual explanations when interpreting functional metaphors. In Experiment 3, preschoolers preferred functional metaphors over nonsense statements in a dichotomous-choice task. These results suggest that preschoolers are able to understand functional metaphors.