Is there an Urban-Rural Divide in Stated Preferences for Protecting an Endangered Species? The Case of the Cook Inlet Beluga Whale

• Main Author: Lew, Daniel
• Format: Conference Object
• Language: English; unknown
• Subjects: Seafood > Marketing; Aquaculture > Economic aspects; Seafood industry > Congresses; Fishery management > Congresses; Beluga; Beluga whale; Beluga*; Alaska
• Online Access: https://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/concern/conference_proceedings_or_journals/wd376111r

General population stated preference surveys are generally drawn from random samples that typically contain a large number of urban households relative to rural households due to the spatial distribution of populations. Given this, it is important to understand and assess whether differences in the preferences and values these two populations place on goods or services exist since the effects of policies and programs being evaluated may have disproportionate effects on these populations. This paper examines differences between urban and rural households' willingness to pay (WTP) for protecting an endangered species. Stated preference choice experiment data from a survey of urban and rural households in Alaska are analyzed using models that account for preference heterogeneity, scale heterogeneity, or both. The results suggest scale heterogeneity matters and differs between the two samples. The estimated preference functions are statistically different between urban and rural households, and across several welfare scenarios, WTP differs statistically. Proceedings of the Eighteenth Biennial Conference of the International Institute of Fisheries Economics and Trade, held July 11-15, 2016 at Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Center (AECC), Aberdeen, Scotland, UK.