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Research Report: Download
Policy Brief: Download
Country: Vietnam
Publication Year: 2017
Research Areas: Climate Change
Research Topic: Mitigation
Analytical Framework: Behavioral/ Experimental Economics

Bài viết The Flood Insurance Market in Vietnam: Challenging but Potentially Profitable đã xuất hiện đầu tiên vào ngày EEPSEA Partnership.

Research Report: Download
Country: Vietnam
Publication Year: 2015
Research Areas: Climate Change
Research Topic: Migration
Analytical Framework: Behavioral/ Experimental Economics

Bài viết Mediation Analysis of Factors that Influence Household Flood Mitigation Behavior in Developing Countries: Evidence from the Mekong Delta, Vietnam đã xuất hiện đầu tiên vào ngày EEPSEA Partnership.

By Kannika Thampanishvong
Summary: This study used the field experiment approach to assess how effective information and feedback provision about electricity consumption is to influence households to conserve energy. This approach relied on statistical methods to establish whether households in the treatment groups were able to reduce their electricity consumption with respect to the control group. Three treatments were considered, (1) self vs. neighbors’ electricity consumption comparison (Treatment 1); (2) provision of general advice on electricity saving (Treatment 2); and (3) advice on electricity saving as well as self vs. neighbors’ comparison (Treatment 3). A total of 138 households in the Minburi and Nongjok districts of Bangkok participated in this experiment. Results showed that households that had received both electricity-saving advice and peer-comparison feedback (Treatment 3) were able to significantly decrease their electricity consumption relative to the control group. This supports the hypothesis that the electricity conservation “nudge” of providing feedback to households on their own and peers’ home electricity usage works in terms of eliciting behavioral changes and in influencing a reduction in residential electricity consumption. Telling people how their energy consumption compares to that of their neighbors has the statistically significant impact of reducing their consumption by about 6%, and that providing energy-saving “hints” has a positive but more modest positive effect.

Bài viết Using Feedback as a Tool for Household Energy Conservation: An Experimental Approach đã xuất hiện đầu tiên vào ngày EEPSEA Partnership.

By Suparee Boonmanunt, Thomas Lauer, Bettina Rockenbach, Arne Weiss
Summary: This study investigates the effects of others’ time preferences on the subjects’ decisions for a group. A lab-in-the-field experiment with Thai coastal villagers was conducted to elicit time preferences. First, the participants decide for themselves and results show that on average, their choices show a present bias. The participants then decide for a group that include themselves. Prior to this decision, the participants are informed about the choices that the other members made in the individual setting. Results show that the choices made for the group are significantly less present-biased. The mechanism driving this result is that the information about a more patient member is more influential than the information about a less patient member. This study also examines the relationship between intertemporal decisions and conservation. A mangrove-planting activity was organized to observe the participants’ actual contribution to a conservation activity. The number of mangrove seeds planted and the participants’ membership status in a conservation group were used as proxies for their individual conservation decisions. Results suggest that less present-biased participants contribute more to the planting activity and seem to be more likely to be members of the conservation group, although conservation decisions are unrelated to the villagers’ long-run discounting.

Bài viết Intertemporal Decisions for Oneself and for a Group and Conservation Decisions: Evidence from a Thai Coastal Village đã xuất hiện đầu tiên vào ngày EEPSEA Partnership.

By Zhu Zhen, Shen Yueqin, and Bai Jiangdi
Summary: Climate change and carbon emission reductions are growing concerns all over the world. It is suggested that mitigating climate change by enhancing forest carbon sequestration (FCS) may be a relatively low-cost option and would likely yield other environmental benefits. In the last few years, China has become the country with the largest artificial afforestation area in the world, and it pays a lot of attention to FCS projects. After collective forest tenure reform in China in the last 10 years, small-scale households have become the main subject of forest management endeavors as potential suppliers of FCS. This study aimed to determine how the risk attitudes of small-scale rural households affect FCS outcomes and their willingness to participate in FCS projects.

Bài viết How the Risk Attitudes of Small-Scale Households Drive Forest Carbon Sequestration Supply: A Risk Experiment in China đã xuất hiện đầu tiên vào ngày EEPSEA Partnership.

By Nguyen Tuan Kiet, Jack Knetsch
Summary: This research tested for possible differences between WTA and WTP estimates of VSL, for changes in both risks of cancer and transportation deaths. A total of 1,100 respondents residing in Can Tho City were randomly surveyed. The results show that WTA-based VSL estimates are about five to six times larger than WTP-based VSL estimates. While showing large differences, these differences may be due not only to the disparity in valuations of gains and losses, but also to the influence of the asymmetric impact of an income or wealth constraint that limits the sums that individuals can pay in the WTA measure while imposing no restraint on the sums people can demand to accept a loss. A further bounded non-monetary scale was used to test for differences between the two valuations in the absence of any wealth constraint. The results were fully consistent with the observed disparity in the monetary evaluations. These results point to the likelihood of a serious bias in many current VSL estimates that ignore the impact of the widely observed valuation disparity, and to the need to better determine instances in which the WTA is the more appropriate measure and those in which the more traditional WTP measure is the better choice.

Bài viết Is the Value of Statistical Life Sensitive to the Choice of Measure? Evidence from Transportation Accident and Cancer Risks in Vietnam đã xuất hiện đầu tiên vào ngày EEPSEA Partnership.

By Jamil Paolo S. Francisco
Summary: This research examined ways by which households obtain safe drinking water to explore the possibility of using point-of-use water filters to address water quality concerns. A random sample of 1,050 households in Metro Cebu, Philippines; Jingzhou, China; and Phnom Penh, Cambodia were surveyed. Results demonstrate the role of perceptions in household behavior. The widespread and persistent distrust of tap water in spite of government assurances that the water is safe to drink has no doubt influenced the continued reliance of households with private water connections (PWC) on traditional household water treatments, particularly boiling. The outcome of auction experiments show that households are willing to pay for improved drinking water quality and that households without PWCs are generally willing to pay more than households with PWCs. In Jingzhou connected and unconnected households were willing to pay about the same amount (both less than USD 3.00) for the auctioned water filter. In Cebu and Phnom Penh, unconnected households were willing to pay more for the auctioned water filter.

Bài viết To Drink or Not to Drink: Exploring the Riddle of Household Water Quality đã xuất hiện đầu tiên vào ngày EEPSEA Partnership.

By Jin Jianjun, Wang Wenyu, He Rui
Summary: This research evaluated small-scale farmers’ knowledge, perceptions of pesticide risks, and practices with regard to pesticide use to identify the determinants of their behavior. A choice experiment approach was also applied to investigate farmers’ valuations of health risk changes associated with pesticide use. A total of 630 farmers from seven towns in Anqiu County, China were interviewed and 420 farmers were randomly assigned to answer choice experiment valuation tasks. Results show that the frequency of pesticide application by local farmers is high and that the improper disposal of pesticides after use is common in the study area. The probability of pesticide overuse significantly decreased with farmers’ risk perceptions, willingness to reduce pesticide use, better social relationships, and strict government monitoring. Results of the choice experiment show that cancer consequence due to pesticide use decreases the utility of the farmer. Household income, education, and age have significant and positive impacts on farmers’ WTP. Farmers who are more educated or female are more likely to accept the compensation scheme if health risks increase. The marginal WTA for the same risk change is about two times higher than the marginal WTP.

Bài viết Valuing Health Risk in Agriculture: A Choice Experiment Approach to Pesticides in Anqiu County, China đã xuất hiện đầu tiên vào ngày EEPSEA Partnership.

By Eva Anggraini
Summay: This study conducted a crop-choice game to understand farmers’ farming decisions on arable land use and to analyze the kind of institutions (i.e., sanctioning versus leading-by-example) that might be effective to solve the externality problems emanating from rice-field conversion into oil palm plantations. The game also aimed to determine the extent to which spatial dimension influences farmers’ decisions. A total of 212 observations consisting of rice and oil palm farmers in two districts in Sumatera Utara province participated in the experiment. The results showed that the baseline scenario had the highest conversion rate (2.59), followed by the leading-by-example scenario (2.39), and then by the sanctioning scenario (1.78). This result indicates that institutional mechanism is required to solve the externality problems, and that sanctioning makes a more significant influence than leading-by-example in reducing the conversion rate. However, the conversion rates of the rice plots located at the center and at the borders did not significantly differ from one another in all scenarios. To prevent further externality problems in arable land use, we suggest establishing local institutions (i.e., informal rules agreed by farmers through sanctioning mechanism) and enhancing formal rules on land use through specifying spatial planning at the village and district levels.

Bài viết Crop-Choice Games for Analyzing Externality Problems of Rice Field Conversion into Oil Palm Plantation in North Sumatera Province, Indonesia đã xuất hiện đầu tiên vào ngày EEPSEA Partnership.