Choice Experiment Method and Its Application to Cultivated Land Protection——A Case Study in Wenling City of Zhejiang Province
The cultivated land resource has multiple functions and public good characteristics.Its ecological value and social value are usually ignored in the course of public decision-making,which has resulted in over-exploitation,excessive use and inefficient allocation of cultivated land in China.Economic valuation of natural resource or environmental goods that have public good characteristics has become a research frontier and hotspot of natural resource and environmental economics in the world.Choice experiment（CE） is a relatively new method that can be used to value the economic benefits of natural resources or environmental goods that have public good characteristics.This paper attempts to apply the CE method in Wenling city that aimed to understand Wenling residents＇ preferences for Wenling cultivated land resources protection programs.A random sample survey of 246 respondents in Wenling was conducted during the summer of 2010.Survey data was analyzed using the multinomial logit models.Results from the 246 in-person interviews indicate that Wenling residents preferred land field facility and land fertility improvement as well as landscape improvement for the protection of cultivated land resources in Wenling city.They would be willing to pay 17.54 yuan/household every month to improve the landscape,and would be willing to pay 37.96 yuan/household every month to improve the land field facility and would be willing to pay 31.43 yuan/household every month to improve the land fertility.Our results show that respondents＇ mean willingness to pay is affected by their socioeconomic characteristics.Those who have higher household yearly income,better education level,more knowledge on cultivated land resource protection and its non-market value would more prefer to choose the new alternatives that will have better land fertility,land field facility or landscape.The mean willingness to pay for the cultivated land protection program which will improve the land fertility,land field facility and landscape is 28.43 yuan/household every month.The study concludes that CE is a reliable tool in the analysis of respondents＇ preferences for the development of suitable cultivated land protection schemes in Wenling city.
cultivated land resourceeconomic valuationchoice experimentWenling
NETL
NSTL
万方数据
维普
