We study the design of an economic incentive based program – a subsidy – to induce adoption of more efficient technology in a pollution reduction program in southern Chile. Stated preferences methods, contingent valuation (CV), and choice experiment (CE) are used to estimate the probability of adoption and the willingness to share the cost of a new technology by a household. The cost-effectiveness property of different subsidy schemes is explored numerically for different regulatory objectives.

This paper considers valuation of amenities in urban neighborhoods and satisfaction with those neighborhoods and life in general. First, rents are used to estimate the price of neighborhood amenities in San Jose, which explains 39% of the standardized variation of rents. Some districts rank very high in housing characteristics but poorly in neighborhood amenities, while others rank poorly in housing characteristics but high in neighborhood amenities, suggesting that indirect policy measures might reduce inequality in urban areas by improving neighborhood amenities.

Research Fellows Juan Robalino and Roger Madrigal made an important contribution for the Inter-American Development Bank’s project called Quality of Life in Urban Neighborhoods in Costa Rica.

Fertilizer use (including dung) in Ethiopia is low, particularly in the northern highlands, where dung is a significant source of household fuel.

Livelihoods in low-income developing countries are generally undiversified and focus on crop production and animal raising. These activities are inherently risky and investment and production decisions by farm households are therefore made within environments that are affected by risk.

In the summer of 2005, we interviewed 996 randomly selected respondents in Beira, Mozambique concerning their willingness and ability
to pay for cholera vaccine for themselves and for other household members. Respondents were told that two doses of the vaccine would be

The demand function for vaccines against typhoid fever was estimated using stated preference
data collected from a random sample of 1065 households in Hue, Vietnam, in 2002. These are the first
estimates of private willingness-to-pay (WTP) and demand functions for typhoid vaccines in a
developing country.

We examine households' demand for improved water services in Kathmandu, Nepal, where the government is considering the possibility of involving the private sector in the operation of municipal water supply services. We surveyed a randomly selected sample of 1500 households in the Kathmandu Valley and asked respondents questions in in-person interviews about how they would vote if given the choice between their existing water supply situation and an improved water service provided by a private operator.

A major strategy to combat deforestation caused by household fuel collection has been the establishment of plantations, especially in India.

A household model is specified with a number of collection possibilities and analyzed empirically using household, vegetation, and GIS data, and the potential decrease in collection from the natural forest is estimated. The results show reduced pressure on the natural, forest due to the establishment of plantations. It also questions buffer zone plantations very close to natural forests.

This paper reviews the expectations for forestry’s contribution to rural development – and for its special contributions to the most disadvantaged, to women and the landless users of the forest commons.