Stated preference valuation surveys, such as choice modelling, are the preferred choice for environmental valuation of water quality improvements. Such willingness to pay (WTP) surveys commonly rely on face-to-face interviews or mail-out questionnaires on a relatively large representative sample of the target population. There is increasing concern that survey respondents may have insufficient information and limited opportunity to deliberate prior to stating their preferences about their WTP. Citizens' juries have been proposed as a novel way to overcome these limitations, providing information from expert witnesses and facilitating informed discussion within the jury, which is composed of members of the affected community. A choice modelling survey, using a 23-person citizens' jury, was conducted to estimate WTP for improvements in water quality in the Bremer River, one of the most polluted waterways in southeast Queensland, Australia. The choice modelling survey conducted pre-and post-exposure of the jurors to expert information about water quality in the Bremer River evaluated the usefulness of the jury process. A significant improvement in juror understanding was found in their responses to the survey. Importantly, following exposure to information from expert witnesses, jurors' educational background ceased to be important in determining their WTP. These findings suggest that citizens' juries could be valuable in overcoming the information problems associated with standard WTP surveys.

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Previous research has shown that the presence of natural areas is beneficial to human wellbeing. However, to date there have been few published studies of the effects that the condition of natural areas have on well-being. We hypothesize that coastal waterways that are perceived to be in better condition are visited more often by local residents, and as a result, residents will develop a stronger sense of place and stronger social relations with other residents, which will in turn lead to a higher quality of life. A survey was conducted to test this hypothesis in two coastal regions in Queensland, Australia. A weak relationship was found between perceived coastal quality and the number of recreational visits. In both study areas, frequency of visits to coastal waterways was significantly related to quality of life through an increased sense of place and social contacts. In the Douglas region, sense of place and social capital were closely related, and social capital was also related to quality of life. In both study areas, residents were most likely to visit waterways that were located in close proximity to their residence, suggesting that management of all waterways is essential for human well-being, and that benefits to humans will result from rehabilitating degraded waterways.

A bstractIn a discrete choice experiment (DCE), some respondents might not attend to all presented attributes when evaluating and choosing their preferred options. Utilizing data from a DCE survey in Vietnam, this paper contributes to the literature on attribute non-attendance (ANA) with an investigation of the ANA in the developing country context. Based on a review of relevant published ANA studies, we find that the extent of ANA reported by respondents in our Vietnam case study could be potentially more serious than in the developed country studies. Our econometric analysis based on a mixed logit model shows that respondents who ignored the attributes have different preferences from respondents who attended to the attributes. An examination of ANA determinants using a multivariate probit model was undertaken to gain a better understanding of reasons for the differences in the preferences of two groups of respondents. Our results confirm that the stated ANA could be an example of a simplifying strategy of respondents, and that respondents ignored attributes which were not relevant to their situation.

Pressure on government budgets has made it more important to quantify the value of public goods, e.g. tropical cyclone warning services, to society as a whole. Based on a stated preference survey, in which respondents could indicate the amount of their willingness to pay (WTP), this study elicited values for an improved cyclone warning service in Vietnam. To examine motives or reasons behind respondents' WTP, respondents were requested to allocate 10 points among different types of values, including self-interest motivated value (termed use value), and values with respect to the interests of others (altruistic value) and future generations (bequest value). The more influential the value, the higher the point is scored. Use value, which was scored the highest mean point of 4.1 out of 10, is the most important motive for valuing improvements in cyclone warning services. Altruistic and bequest values were given similar points, approximately 2.9 and 3.0, respectively. This study empirically demonstrates that respondents hold not only self-interest motivated value, but also altruistic and bequest values. Given the importance of non-use values, i.e. altruistic and bequest values, economic assessments focusing on only use value would underestimate the benefits of an improved cyclone warning service to society.