Spatial heterogeneity of willingness to pay for forest management

Czajkowski, M., Budziński, W., Campbell, D., Giergiczny, M. and Hanley, N. (2017) Spatial heterogeneity of willingness to pay for forest management. Environmental and Resource Economics, 68(3), pp. 705-727. (doi: 10.1007/s10640-016-0044-0)

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Abstract

The paper investigates the spatial heterogeneity of public’s preferences for the implementation of a new country-wide forest management and protection program in Poland. Spatial econometric methods and high resolution geographical information system data related to forest characteristics are used to explain the variation in individual-specific willingness to pay (WTP) values, derived from a discrete choice experiment study. We find that respondents’ WTP is higher the closer they live to their nearest forest, and the scarcer forests are in the area where they live. Interestingly, the higher the ecological value of forests in respondents’ area, the more people prefer extending areas of national forest protection. We also investigate spatial patterns in individual-specific WTP scores and in latent class membership probabilities, finding that preferences are indeed spatially clustered. We argue that this clustering should be taken into account in forest management and policy-making.

Item Type:Articles
Additional Information:This study was carried out as a part of the POLFOREX project (“Forest as a public good. Evaluation of social and environmental benefits of forests in Poland to improve management efficiency”; PL0257) funded by EEA Financial Mechanism, Norwegian Financial Mechanism and Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education. Funding support is gratefully acknowledged. The first author gratefully acknowledges the support of the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education and the Foundation for Polish Science.
Status:Published
Refereed:Yes
Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID:Hanley, Professor Nicholas
Authors: Czajkowski, M., Budziński, W., Campbell, D., Giergiczny, M., and Hanley, N.
College/School:College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Biodiversity, One Health & Veterinary Medicine
Journal Name:Environmental and Resource Economics
Publisher:Springer
ISSN:0924-6460
ISSN (Online):1573-1502
Published Online:08 July 2016
Copyright Holders:Copyright © 2016 The Authors
First Published:First published in Environmental and Resource Economics 68(3): 705-727
Publisher Policy:Reproduced under a Creative Commons License

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