Analysing motives behind willingness to pay for improving early warning services for tropical cyclones in Vietnam

Abstract

Pressure on government budgets has made it more important to quantify the value of public goods, e.g. tropical cyclone warning services, to society as a whole. Based on a stated preference survey, in which respondents could indicate the amount of their willingness to pay (WTP), this study elicited values for an improved cyclone warning service in Vietnam. To examine motives or reasons behind respondents' WTP, respondents were requested to allocate 10 points among different types of values, including self-interest motivated value (termed use value), and values with respect to the interests of others (altruistic value) and future generations (bequest value). The more influential the value, the higher the point is scored. Use value, which was scored the highest mean point of 4.1 out of 10, is the most important motive for valuing improvements in cyclone warning services. Altruistic and bequest values were given similar points, approximately 2.9 and 3.0, respectively. This study empirically demonstrates that respondents hold not only self-interest motivated value, but also altruistic and bequest values. Given the importance of non-use values, i.e. altruistic and bequest values, economic assessments focusing on only use value would underestimate the benefits of an improved cyclone warning service to society.