Valuing Air And Noise Quality:A Choice Modeling Approach

Air and noise pollution are prevalent in many cities around the world,and the negative health and environmental consequences have been well documented.Local governments are faced with the task of promoting the good health of its citizens as well as economic growth at the cost of increased air and noise pollution.The current study implements a choice experiment survey to examine how air and noise quality affect respondents’ location choice decisions using a conditional logit model.The main purpose of this study is to estimate the welfare value of improvements in air and noise quality.Results show that non-Chinese respondents and those who stated that air pollution was a concern of theirs are more sensitive to air pollution.Results also show that respondents who had no previous experience living in areas with noise pollution,respondents who stated that noise pollution is a concern of theirs,and females are more sensitive to noise pollution.Willingness to pay estimates show that non-Chinese respondents are willing to pay the most for improvements in air quality while those who stated that air pollution is not a concern of theirs are willing to pay the least.For improvements in noise quality,those who stated that noise quality is a concern of theirs are willing to pay the most,while those who stated that noise quality is not a concern of theirs are willing to pay the least.