Rationality concepts in environmental valuation / / Oliver Frör

• Record Nr.: UNINA9910297039103321
• Autore: Frör Oliver
• Pubbl/distr/stampa: Bern, : Peter Lang International Academic Publishing Group, 2018; Frankfurt am Main, Germany : , : Peter Lang, , [2007]; Frankfurt am Main, Germany : , : Peter Lang, , [2018]; ©2007
• ISBN: 9783631755150; 3631755155; 9783631573365
• Edizione: [1st ed.]
• Descrizione fisica: 1 online resource (XVI, 239 pages) : illustrations, charts; digital, PDF file(s)
• Collana: Hohenheimer Volkswirtschaftliche Schriften ; ; Band 58
• Disciplina: 333.7
• Soggetti: Environmental economics; Environmental protection - Economic aspects
• Lingua di pubblicazione: Inglese
• Formato: Materiale a stampa
• Livello bibliografico: Monografia
• Note generali: Originally presented as the author’s doctoral thesis: Hohenheim, 2007.
• Nota di bibliografia: Includes bibliographical references.
• Nota di contenuto: Cover -- i List of Figures -- ii List of Tables -- iii List of Abbreviations -- 1 Introduction -- 1.1 Motivation and scope -- 1.2 Further outline of the study -- 2 Environmental valuation -- 2.1 Theory and practice of environmental valuation -- 2.1.1 Environmental valuation - why? -- 2.1.2 Environmental valuation and benefit-cost analysis in neoclassical economics -- 2.1.3 Methods of environmental valuation -- 2.1.3.1 Indirect methods -- 2.1.3.2 Direct methods -- 2.1.4 Statistical estimation models for the CVM -- 2.2 Rationality problems in environmental valuation -- 2.2.1 Biases in Contingent Valuation -- 2.2.2 Rationality problems due to preference uncertainty -- 2.3 Summary -- 3 Rationality in economics -- 3.1 Outline of the chapter -- 3.2 Rationality concepts in economics an overview -- 3.2.1 What is rationality? -- 3.2.2 Extensions of the neoclassical rationality concept -- 3.3 Bounded rationality -- 3.3.1 The emergence of bounded rationality in the literature -- 3.3.2 Evidence of bounded rationality in economics and the social sciences -- 3.3.3 The psychological foundations of bounded rationality in environmental valuation -- ; 3.3.3.1 Why deal with psychology? -- 3.3.3.2 Cognitive psychology and its relation to the discipline of psychology -- 3.3.3.3 Fundamentals of cognitive psychology -- 3.3.4 Psychological models of reasoning: dual-process approaches -- 3.3.4.1 The concept of dual-process approaches -- 3.3.4.2 Specific model approaches of dual-processes in the context of environmental valuation -- 3.4 Summary -- 4 Bounded rationality in environmental valuation -- 4.1 Review and outline of the chapter -- 4.2 Theoretical considerations -- 4.2.1 Dealing with preference uncertainty: a fuzzy approach -- 4.2.1.1 Fuzzy logic and fuzzy preferences -- 4.2.1.2 Is it possible to assess fuzzy preferences regarding the environment?.; 4.2.2 Considering bounded rationality in environmental valuation -- 4.2.2.1 What constitutes rationality in environmental valuation? The normative view -- 4.2.2.2 Why is bounded rationality a problem in environmental valuation? -- 4.2.2.3 Research questions and hypotheses -- 4.3 Development of empirical instruments for analyzing bounded rationality in CVM -- 4.3.1 A measure for individual differences in decision making: the rational experiential inventory (REI) -- 4.3.2 Adaptation of the REI to the context of the CVM -- 4.4 An empirical example -- 4.4.1 Background of the empirical research project: The Uplands Program -- 4.4.2 General research ideas and hypotheses of the subproject in northern Thailand -- 4.4.2.1 Problem definition -- 4.4.2.2 The empirical design -- 4.4.2.3 The measurement scales of bounded rationality in northern Thailand - research implementation in the survey design -- 4.4.2.4 Practical implementation of the survey -- 4.4.3 Empirical results of the project -- 4.4.3.1 Socio-economic and demographic characteristics of the respondent population -- 4.4.3.2 Estimates of willingness-to-pay for the tap water improvement program -- 4.4.3.3 Determinants of willingness-to-pay -- 4.4.3.4 The measurement scales of bounded rationality -- 4.4.3.5 Characteristics of the task independent and task dependent types -- 4.4.3.6 Bounded rationality and WTP -- 4.4.3.7 Detection of procedural biases and their relation to the measures of cognitive type -- 4.5 Discussion and implications of the empirical results of the study -- 5 Summary and conclusions -- 6 References -- 7 Appendix -- 7.1 Survey questionnaire -- 7.2 Correlations of socio-economic and attitudinal variables with TIF and TDF -- 7.2.1 Task independent factors -- 7.2.2 Task dependent factors.
• Sommario/riassunto: Survey based valuation techniques like the Contingent Valuation Method (CVM) rely particularly on the premise of respondents’ rationality when answering willingness to pay (WTP) questions. Results of CVM surveys have repeatedly put this fundamental assumption into question. This study adopts a more realistic view of rationality accounting for respondents’ limited capacities to process information. Based on cognitive psychology a technique to detect and analyze the bounds of rationality inherent in WTP statements is developed. Using an empirical example, the influence of bounded rationality on the validity of CVM results is analyzed. It is shown that individual differences in information processing play a major role. From these results recommendations for future survey design are developed.