Special Issue on “Digital media data in environment and development economics”

Submission Deadline: 31 January 2024 

Environment and Development Economics seeks to publish a special issue on digital media data in environment and development economics. The issue will be guest edited by Andrea Ghermandi, David Katz and Maria L. Loureiro. 

Over the past decade user-generated digital content has become an important source of insight into human-environment interactions. Such data—coming from different sources including social networking sites, online ratings and reviews, (micro-)blogging platforms, media sharing services, sports and recreation apps, cellphone network data and more—can offer a unique perspective into people’s perceptions and experiences of the natural environment. Applications in the field of environmental and development economics have focused mainly on integrating user-generated content within established non-market valuation techniques. Applications in lower-income countries are especially lacking, despite the great potential of these new data sources to provide high-volume, relatively easily accessible and scalable findings. 

This special issue aims to extend the understanding of the potential applications and new insights that can be generated through the analysis of user-generated content in economic assessments. This call is open to both theoretical and applied empirical contributions which provide novel insights into all aspects related to the uptake of user-generated content within environmental and development economics, with an emphasis on applications in low-income countries. These include, but are not limited to: (1) the integration into non-market valuation techniques; (2) improving understanding of consumer preferences and behavior; (3) the exploration of potential limitations of these new data sources (e.g., from lack of representativeness of the sampled users or data scarcity for specific areas and populations as a consequence of digital divides); and (4) the investigation of the ethical aspects (e.g., privacy protection) related to the analysis of user-generated content in economic studies. 

Submission Guidelines: Papers should be submitted by 31 January 2024 at the latest. Early submissions are encouraged and will be processed immediately. Papers will undergo the normal refereeing process. The quality of the paper and the extent to which it fits the focus of the special issue are the criteria for acceptance. 

Submissions should be made online at: https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/ede. During the first step of the submission process, in the “Special Issue” field, authors should select “Digital media”. Authors should also indicate in their cover letter that the manuscript is for the “Digital media data in environment and development economics” Special Issue. 

For more details, visit our site. Instructions for contributors can be found here. For further information, authors should contact the Guest Editors at the emails below.