The Welfare State as Safety Net in Migration Preferences: Empirical Evidence from an Experiment Among Dutch Master Students

The welfare state can be perceived as a safety net which helps individuals adjust to situations of risk or transition. Starting from this idea of the welfare state as safety net, this study addresses whether and how welfare generosity may influence people’s willingness to migrate. In doing so, we distinguish between two potential mechanisms, innovatively focusing on welfare provisions in both the country of origin and destination. First, a generous welfare system in the country of origin may have a retaining impact, as individuals may be unwilling to migrate to countries offering less social protection. Second, generous welfare provisions in the country of destination may enable migration for individuals who are more intolerant of uncertainty and who otherwise would prefer to remain immobile. We test both mechanisms using stated preference data collected with a unique experimental design among over 300 Dutch Master students. Confirming the first mechanism, we indeed find that respondents report a lower willingness to migrate when evaluating hypothetical scenarios where the level of social protection was higher in the country of origin as compared with the country of destination. Furthermore, and in line with the second mechanism, individuals who are more intolerant of uncertainty generally report a lower willingness to migrate, yet their willingness to migrate increases for scenarios with higher levels of unemployment benefits. Our findings, thus, indeed suggest that welfare arrangements are mainly serving a safety net function and need to be understood in relative terms between the country of origin and destination.

Study on Premium Rent of Refurbished Apartments Based on Bayesian Modeling Using Stated Preference Data of the Tenants

In this study, we evaluated the premium rent of refurbished apartment houses in Greater Tokyo. We found that as a residential building’s age increased, the premium rent decreased. Male tenants in the age group of 20–30 years showed the highest willingness to pay (WTP). In addition, a high degree of residential satisfaction and the sense of expense toward rent had negative effects on the WTP toward premium rent.

Stated Preference Data & Alogit

Stated Preference (SP) surveys are a form of experimental surveys in which the respondent states his/her preferences towards to an alternative out of a set of alternatives that they are presented with. The process of analysing the data collected and estimating the utility of the alternatives under investigation found through such surveys, depending on the nature of the survey design and its underlying details, can be time consuming and cumbersome. If the data is to be studied using logit models, the ALOGIT software can be used which is a powerful tool used for utility maximization and estimations of a SP survey data set. The software requires development and use of a special and often quite lengthy code. This paper presents the reader with a specific yet immensely useful computer program to be used in ALOGIT for estimations when working with SP data and logit models involving ranking and rating of alternatives.

Analisis Probabilitas Perpindahan Moda Pengguna Sepeda Motor ke Kereta Commuter Surabaya Porong

Kemacetan di Kota Surabaya semakin hari semakin meningkat dilihat dari volume lalu lintas harian rata rata pada Jalan Ahmad Yani yang dari Sidoarjo baik pada pagi dan malam hari. Hal ini dikarenakan banyaknya masyarakat Sidoarjo dalam melakukan aktivitasnya menggunakan kendaraan sepeda motor. Salah satu jenis transportasi yang dapat dijadikan alternatif untuk membantu mengatasi permasalahan kebutuhan transportasi masyarakat Surabaya Sidoarjo adalah kereta. Salah satu angkutan penumpang untuk pergerakan commuter tersebut adalah kereta commuter Surabaya Porong. Kereta commuter Surabaya Porong saat ini sudah beroperasi tetapi pengguna kereta commuter masih cenderung sedikit dan terus berkurang. Untuk menyadarkan masyarakat perlu dilakukan penelitian dengan maksud menawarkan pengguna kendaraan sepeda motor untuk berpindah ke kereta commuter dalam melakukan aktivitas ke Surabaya atau sebaliknya. Penelitian dilakukan dengan wawancara/kuisoner kepada pengguna kendaraan sepeda motor dengan menggunakan teknik stated preference. Data primer kemudian diolah menggunakan analisis regresi logistik. Hasil probabilitas pengguna kendaraan sepeda motor yang bersedia berpindah dengan moda transportasi kereta commuter sangat dipengaruhi oleh karakteristik: jenis kelamin, pendapatan dan harga tiket kereta. Dalam penelitian juga mempertimbangkan faktor nilai willingness to pay dari responden. Dimana untuk harga tiket yang di tawarkan terdapat 2 skenario, yang pertama harga tetap Rp 5.000, dan harga naik Rp 6.000 dengan perbaikan fasilitas.

How Much of Which Mode? Using Revealed Preference Data to Design Mobility As a Service Plans

Mobility as a service (MaaS) seeks to integrate emerging shared mobility modes with existing public transportation (PT). Decisive to its uptake will be attractive subscription plans that cater for heterogeneous mobility needs. Research on willingness to pay for such plans has commenced, yet remains divided on a central question: how much to include of which mode, and how? Complementing previous research building on stated preference data, in this study revealed preference data is used to analyze the viability of different subscription plan components (PT, car-sharing, bike-sharing, taxi), modes of inclusion (budgets in minutes and season tickets) and subscription cycles (weekly, monthly). PT season tickets are found to be viable for 83% of all respondents. Interestingly, the viability of minute budgets of car- and bike-sharing depends on subscription cycle length. Using a monthly subscription cycle, car-/bike-sharing appears viable to include in a bundle for 35%/31% of all respondents, respectively. Using a weekly subscription cycle, these figures drop to 1.4%/0.4%, respectively, as weekly variation in demand is much higher than monthly variation. In contrast to many current MaaS pilots, taxi use remains too infrequent to include as recurring credit in MaaS plans. Rather, pay-as-you-go is the economically more sensible option for consumers. This research therefore challenges the idea of all-inclusive mobility flat rates and suggests a more modular design.