Suchergebnisse

We use contingent valuation to place a value on the conservation of built cultural heritage sites in Armenia. When we present the hypothetical scenario in the questionnaire we spell out what would happen to the monuments in the absence of the government conservation program. We posit that respondents combine such information with their own prior beliefs, which the questionnaire also elicits, and that the WTP for the good or program is likely to be affected by these updated beliefs. We propose a Bayesian updating model of prior beliefs, and empirically implement it using the data from our survey. We find that uncertainty about what would happen to the monument in the absence of the program results in lower WTP amounts.

This paper discusses the results of a conjoint analysis study developed to assess alternative land uses for an important part of the city of Venice: its Arsenal. Aim of the study is to illustrate the potential of stated preferences techniques for placing a value on redevelopment and reuse alternatives for an underutilized site with high historical, cultural and architectural significance. Very few studies have used conjoint choice to assess public preferences for alternative land uses in an ex-ante framework, i.e. masterplans. For our study, we wanted to concentrate on a "city of art," where the relationship between cultural heritage resources management and city development is more critical. Venice was an obvious choice for the national and international relevance of its heritage. The Arsenale is one of the few places in Venice that has the potential for a real transformation of its uses, with important impacts on both residents and visitors. Moreover, the Arsenale plays a strong symbolic role: it was the place where the strength and power of the Serenissima was built. The City Council of Venice has recently deliberated that the Arsenale is an inalienable heritage of the city of Venice. In recent years, the importance of the Arsenale has resulted in a heated debate on its possible new uses. Many architectural proposals have been submitted through international competitions. These proposals—whether submitted in the past or currently under consideration—have shown that there may be a conflict between different possible land uses and the transformation allowed by the existing architectural structures. We surveyed individuals in Venice asking respondents to engage in conjoint choice tasks, gathering 168 usable observations. Members of the general public were intercepted at the Multimedia Library at Palazzo Querini Stampalia/FEEM and asked to indicate which choice they preferrd among hypothetical—but realistic—redevelopment projects of the Arsenale historic site. Each project was described by a vector of attributes, such as land use, use of basins and waterways, architectural features, access, employment implied by the reuse, and cost. The responses to these choice tasks was used to infer the rate at which respondents trade off land uses, aesthetic features, and costs, and hence to derive the value of marginal changes in the attributes, and the value of a proposed policy package. The Venice Arsenale is owned by the Italian government and is currently used by the Italian Navy. The Arsenale site accounts for about 15 percent of the area of the city of Venice (about 45 hectares), and is located in the Castello district. Tradition has it that doge Ordefalo Falier founded the Arsenale—a shipbuilding yard—in 1104. In 1340 the "Darsena Nuova" was created, which marked the birth of the Arsenal Nuovo and of the Corderie building. Further expansion started in 1473, covering an area of 26 hectares. This phase lasted more than 100 years, resulting in the construction of the New Corderie building, among others, in 1591. In its heyday, the Arsenale employed roughly 20,000 workers in an assembly-line fashion and produced one ship a day. The Arsenale, after the navy largely withdrew from the complex over 40 years ago, suffered from abandonment and under use. The Arsenale is, therefore, one of the few places in Venice that has the potential for a real transformation of its uses. In this paper we investigate how the development of the Arsenale site, involving alternative land uses, may influence the welfare of the residents of the historical city center of Venice. Starting from the evidence of our survey in Venice, the paper broaden its scope to discuss ways of improving the management of cultural heritage cities, focusing on new forms of involvement and public participation based on public preferences' elicitation. We debate the issues related to city governance and the need for an appropriate level of democratic participation. An integrated approach, capable of bridging the practice of economic valuation, urban design, conservation of the built environment, and decision-making support systems is here analysed.

The growing rate of obesity has recently required governments to divert considerable resources in the promotion of healthy lifestyles. We explored the relative effectiveness in inducing healthy behaviour change of three different communication strategies about the benefits of an intervention that reduces the mortality risks of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and encourages respondents to embrace healthier lifestyles. We designed a Discrete Choice Experiments questionnaire to analyse the trade-off between lifestyles, defined in terms of diet and exercise, and reduction in cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality risk. We set three ways of framing an identical benefit: (A) as a reduction in mortality risk from cardiovascular disease, (B) as an increase in months of life expectancy, and (C) as an increase in the probability of reaching an individual's full lifespan. The experiment was tailored for each subject in the sample according to his/her individual's baseline information on diet and physical activity. During the period February 2010–July 2011, we interviewed 1008 individuals in Northern Ireland, split randomly into three samples for the three CVD risk reduction frames. Considering the models' goodness of fit and significance, we conclude that the most effective way of communicating these CVD health benefits is using an increase in life expectancy, since with this frame individuals are more inclined to state that they would change to a healthier lifestyle.

The introduction of an effective Front of Pack food labelling (FoPL) system is at the forefront of the food policy debate. Nutritional information is seen as an effective tool to help fight obesity and its associated co-morbidities, such as cancer and cardiovascular disease, for which unhealthy diet represent a major preventable risk factor. This paper explores the influence of FoPL formats on consumer's stated choice of weekly food baskets using data from a discrete choice experiment carried out in Northern Ireland in 2011. Two of the three baskets were experimentally designed while the third represented the respondent's actual current food choice (or status-quo basket). Four nutritional attributes were used: (i) total fat, (ii) saturated fat, (iii) salt, and (iv) sugar. Baskets were portrayed at different price levels to elicit the sensitivity of choice to price and to derive marginal willingness to pay estimates. Results from random utility models with various forms of heterogeneity reject the null of no association between preference classes and healthier food baskets and also the null of no effect of the nutritional information described. We find that the influence of the FoPL format used to convey nutritional information combines with selected socio-demographic covariates to determine membership to preference classes. A sensitivity analysis is used to validate the preferred model and the response sensitivity of selection probabilities to potential policy levers, such as a more realistic appreciation of self-body image and the habit of reading labels.

The growing rate of obesity has recently required governments to divert considerable resources in the promotion of healthy lifestyles. We explored the relative effectiveness in inducing healthy behaviour change of three different communication strategies about the benefits of an intervention that reduces the mortality risks of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and encourages respondents to embrace healthier lifestyles. We designed a Discrete Choice Experiments questionnaire to analyse the trade-off between lifestyles, defined in terms of diet and exercise, and reduction in cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality risk. We set three ways of framing an identical benefit: (A) as a reduction in mortality risk from cardiovascular disease, (B) as an increase in months of life expectancy, and (C) as an increase in the probability of reaching an individual's full lifespan. The experiment was tailored for each subject in the sample according to his/her individual's baseline information on diet and physical activity. During the period February 2010 - July 2011, we interviewed 1,008 individuals in Northern Ireland, split randomly into three samples for the three CVD risk reduction frames. Considering the models' goodness of fit and significance, we conclude that the most effective way of communicating these CVD health benefits is using an increase in life expectancy, since with this frame individuals are more inclined to state that they would change to a healthier lifestyle.

Purpose – In 2012, the European food industry was hit by a food fraud: horsemeat was found in pre-prepared foods, without any declaration on the package. This is commonly referred to as the "horsemeat scandal". The purpose of this paper is to investigate consumers' preferences across Europe for a selected ready meal, ready to heat (RTH) fresh lasagne, to consider whether the effects of potential food frauds on consumers' choices can be mitigated by introducing enhanced standards of RTH products. Design/methodology/approach – An online survey was administered to 4,598 consumers of RTH lasagne in six European countries (Republic of Ireland, France, Italy, Spain, Germany and Norway), applying discrete choice experiments to estimate consumers' willingness to pay for enhanced food safety standards and highlight differences between countries. Findings – Many similarities across countries emerged, as well as some differences. Consumers in Europe are highly concerned with the authenticity of the meat in ready meals and strongly prefer to know that ingredients are nationally sourced. Strong regional differences in price premiums exist for enhanced food safety standards. Originality/value – This research adds relevant insights in the analysis of consumers' reaction to food fraud, providing practical guidelines on the most appropriate practices that producers should adopt and on the information to reduce food risk perception among consumers. This would prove beneficial for the food processing industry and the European Union. The survey is based on a representative sample of European consumers making this the largest cross-country study of this kind.