Copyright (c) 2008 All rights reserved. http://works.bepress.com/james_casey Recent documents in James F Casey en-us Thu, 03 Jan 2008 03:23:06 PST 3600 http://works.bepress.com/james_casey/7 http://works.bepress.com/james_casey/7 Fri, 15 Dec 2006 09:20:53 PST Coral reefs have been referred to as the rainforests of the sea, maintaining the most diverse forms of life on earth. Unfortunately, fifty-eight percent of the world's reefs are potentially threatened by human activity. The primary objective of this paper is to determine if tourists, visiting the Riviera Maya, Mexico are willing to pay an entrance fee to enhance coral reef protection. We use a discrete choice contingent valuation (CV) experiment with almost 400 visitors to determine a measure of compensating variation for contributing to a public trust to protect corals. Results suggest there are significant possibilities for implementing a "coral fund" to raise revenues for coral protection programs in the Riviera Maya region of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula. James F. Casey Marine Resources http://works.bepress.com/james_casey/6 http://works.bepress.com/james_casey/6 Fri, 15 Dec 2006 08:44:43 PST James F. Casey Development http://works.bepress.com/james_casey/5 http://works.bepress.com/james_casey/5 Fri, 15 Dec 2006 08:39:29 PST James F. Casey Development http://works.bepress.com/james_casey/4 http://works.bepress.com/james_casey/4 Fri, 15 Dec 2006 08:33:51 PST The objective of this paper is to empirically test the hypothesis that reducing uncertainty for farmers through investment in human capital increases the likelihood of participation in an agroforestry development program. A model based on Keynes's notion of profit expectations and "weight" is developed in order to gain some insight into agroforestry adoption behavior. Data was collected near the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve in the state of Campeche in southeastern Mexico. One hundred seventy-five farmers were interviewed from January through March of 1998. Results support the hypothesis that human capital investment improves the likelihood of participation in an agroforestry development program. James F. Casey Development http://works.bepress.com/james_casey/3 http://works.bepress.com/james_casey/3 Fri, 15 Dec 2006 08:27:29 PST The paper tests 'twoalternative specifications for the opportunity cost of time in travel cost models. The standard travel cost survey design is enriched to include a contingent valuation type question about peoples' willingness to accept compensation to forgo a precisely defined recreational experience. It is hypothesized that individually revealed value of time more appropriately reflects the opportunity costs of time associated with a particular aspect of recreation than the wage rate which measures the trade-off between work and leisure generally. The results seem to indicate a better overall tit for the models with the elicited value of individual consumer's time than for the models with the more traditional hourly earnings (wage rates). The importance of the correct measurement of the opportunity cost time is illustrated by showing that estimated consumer surpluses based on two different value of time measurements differ significantly. James F. Casey Recreation http://works.bepress.com/james_casey/2 http://works.bepress.com/james_casey/2 Fri, 15 Dec 2006 08:22:40 PST The 1.5 million residents of the city of Manaus form the epicenter for economic activity and development in the Amazon Basin. The current water treatment facilities were built when there were a mere 100,000 people living here. The fifteen-fold increase in population has made access to water a major public health concern. Families that can afford to buy bottled water do and those that can not are susceptible to water-borne disease and illness at an ever-increasing rate. In order to determine how much citizens are willing to pay for universal access to water service in the home, the University of Amazonas, Center for Environmental Sciences has conducted a survey of over 1600 residents, collecting information on current water needs, health concerns, household socioeconomic characteristics, and, from a contingent valuation (CV) experiment, how much they would pay for access to improve water service in the home. This paper makes use of the 1479 observations from four elicitation formats; (1) open-ended, (2) open-ended with a bpre-qualifyingQ statement, (3) descending bid dichotomous choice, and (4) ascending bid dichotomous choice. Results suggest that residents are willing to pay (WTP) more than R$12 (US$6.12) per month. James F. Casey Development http://works.bepress.com/james_casey/1 http://works.bepress.com/james_casey/1 Thu, 14 Dec 2006 20:45:52 PST Despite current high gasoline prices, what we need now is to increase gas taxes. James F. Casey Public Policy