Date(s): August 18, 2009, 1:00-2:30 pm

Location: Room 4144 EPA West, 1301 Constitution Ave., NW, Washington, DC

Presenter(s): Klaus Moeltner (University of Nevada, Reno)

Description: This study proposes a new approach to utilize information from existing choice experiments to predict policy outcomes for a transfer setting. Recognizing the difficulties from pooling raw data from experiments with different designs and sub-populations we first re-estimate all underlying Random Utility Models individually, and then combine them in a second stage process to form a weighted mixture density for the generation of policy-relevant welfare estimates. Using data from recent choice experiments on farmland preservation we illustrate that our strategy is more robust to transfer inaccuracies than single-site approaches. The specification of "intelligent" mixture weights will be a fruitful ground for future research in the area of Benefit Transfer.

Seminar Category: Environmental Economics