IAGRI Workshop Announcement
Introduction to Valuation Methods and Willingness to Pay
Dates: October 12-13, 2016
Location: iAGRI building, Sokoine University of Agriculture campus
Presenter: Dr. Tim Haab, Professor and Chair, Department of Agricultural, Environmental and Development Economics, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio USA
Abstract: Understanding of the values that people place on goods and services is critical to making sound economic decisions. In many cases, markets provide an easy way for people to reveal value through their decisions to buy and sell goods and services. But in other cases, markets fail to accurately reflect values. Whether it’s because the good or service being valued does not have a market, or existing markets fail to reflect the full value of the good or service, non-market valuation methods are needed to fully measure the costs and benefits of goods and services.
This workshop serves as an introduction to non-market valuation methods and the economic concepts of willingness to pay and willingness to accept in the context of developing countries. Through the use of current and classic examples, we will provide an introduction to the economics of valuation, the economic theory of measuring values and the practical tools economists have developed for measuring non-market values. At the end of this introductory workshop, the attendee will have the knowledge and tools necessary to delve into the rapidly growing field of valuation as applied in developing countries.
Presenter: Professor Tim Haab is an internationally recognized expert on methods for measuring the value of goods and services not adequately represented by market prices. He is the author of over 50 academic journal articles and 4 books on valuation methods, including the now standard book for valuation methods in environmental and resource economics: Valuing Environmental and Natural Resources: The Econometrics of Non-Market Valuation. He has worked on projects applying valuation methods in such diverse settings as payments for environmental services to the rural poor in developing countries, the value of improved drinking water access and quality in developing countries, the economic damages from oil spills, the environmental, health and resource effects of bio-based fuels, incorporating ecosystem service valuation into marine planning, the economic value of marine recreational fishing, the economic impacts of climate change, the economic costs of invasive species, the value of agricultural extension programs, and the impact of agricultural pollution on hypoxic zones of oceans. As Chair of the Department of Agricultural, Environmental, and Development Economics at The Ohio State University, Professor Haab oversees a faculty of 21 world-class applied economists.