Continuing my research experience for undergraduates (REU) obsession, I have an independent study student this semester who is estimating determinants of votes on a renewable portfolio standard and the resulting willingness to pay with some leftover data from Landry et al. (2012). Here is the abstract that we submitted for a poster presentation at the student research fair:
Willingness to pay for a national renewable energy portfolio standard
This research focuses on the relationship between outside variables and a positive vote by North Carolinians for a new national Renewable Energy Portfolio Standard. Under this new law, electric utilities in North Carolina will be required to meet up to 12.5% of their energy needs through renewable energy resources such as wind, solar and geothermal sources. The Renewable Energy Portfolio Standard would likely increase electric bills for North Carolina electricity consumers. The data for this research is from a 2010 survey of North Carolina residents. The survey had two parts. The first part of the survey was done by telephone and then the same respondents were asked to complete an internet survey. I will conduct a bivariate linear probability model regression and look at the effect of the rise in consumer’s electricity costs on positive votes for the policy. Willingness to pay for the policy will be estimated. The determinants of the votes are variables such as concern for climate change, income, and years to live, etc.
I'll post more on this as we get closer to April 23. But, the department bought a student copy of Limdep and we covered how to estimate the panel model today (after some background reading). On the fly I decided I wanted to do one of those cool video screen shots with a voice over so that it would be relatively easy to work through some new software. I used the Google and found Screencast-o-matic. After less than 10 minutes, including my botched first attempt (which I called a rehearsal), I uploaded my video to YouTube. I used the free version but will probably pay the $15 for teaching my biz stats II class in the fall. I didn't do any consumer research, are there other good products out there?
Check it out!
