Thailand has experienced severe air-quality problems for the past 10 years. Complicating this situation, the Thai government allocates an insufficient budget for the management of air pollution. Using the contingent valuation method, this paper estimates the willingness to pay for air-quality improvement in Thailand to reveal the benefits that people will gain if air-quality improves. The results show that the total benefits from air-quality improvement would be 18.8 billion baht in 2020. The Thai government can use these findings as a guideline to redistribute its budget to address air pollution more effectively.
This article aims to empirically investigate the role of claims of credence attributes in the launch of food and drink products using a large dataset of new product development by food companies in China. A multinomial regression model is employed to analyze the association between the type of product launch and the positioning claims adopted by firms. The results provide evidence that claims of credence attributes play an important role in the product launch strategy of firms. Food companies tend to choose the most cost‐effective strategies to launch products with credence attributes. Hence, claims that are seen as most important for consumers are more likely to be engendered for the more costly launch approach. For example, the attribute of food safety is highly important in China and its use is related to launching brand new products which generally is the most costly launch strategy. In contrast, other credence attributes, such as “environmentally sustainable,” are linked to relatively simpler and cheaper strategies, such as new packaging. Given most studies on credence attributes have focused on the consumer side, results of this study fill in the gap of understanding how food suppliers respond to consumer demand for food products with credence attributes.
The primary objectives of this research focused on developing a sustainable tourism model for the Pha Wang Nam Khiao -Pha Khao Phu Luang Forest Reserve in order to sustain forest area and develop local community simultaneously. The sustainable tourism model was created based on site potential, stakeholders' opinions, and cost-benefit analysis. The results showed that the destinations were ranked in high potential for tourism development. The majority of tourists paid attention to forest resources education program and sport outdoor activities. Benefit-cost ratio (BCR) equaled to 1.81 and internal rate of return (IRR) equaled to 16.38, showing suitability and worthiness for developing tourism in Wang Nam Khiao forest reserve. Tourism development strategies have been proposed, including: (1) developing facilities and services for conservation and sustainable tourism; (2) personnel training for sustainable development; and (3) tourism marketing for niche market.
Biodegradable mulch films (BDMs) technology is an environmentally-friendly substitute to traditional plastic mulch films in agricultural production. Given the high price and it is new to the market, it is not easy for farmers to accept and adopt it. This paper aims to explore the key factors affecting farmers’ adoption of and willingness to pay for BDMs to understand the complex process of farmers’ decision-making. This paper employs a double hurdle model to explore the multi-stage decision-making process in the adoption of BDMs using the sample of 1247 observations from Yunnan province China, where two mechanisms of decision-making (i.e., direct rejection of technology and lack of resources) were used to capture zero willingness to pay (WTP) for BDMs. The results indicate the two-stage decision-making process, where the role of technology-specific characteristics is more important than adopter-specific characteristics in the adoption of BDMs in China – training for understanding and using the technology has a positive effect on both the adoption and willingness to pay. The paper is the first attempt that empirically analyses the determinants of farmers’ WTP for BDMs. It contributes to the literature on adoption analysis by 1) considering farmers’ adoption choices as a two-step process by using a hurdle model and 2) addressing the importance of technology-specific characteristics on farmers’ WTP for BDMs. Understanding the role of factors on different stages of farmers’ decision-making could assist policymakers in designing programs, specifically tackling difficulties confronting farmers at different stages of decision-making.
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