Abstract
We use a quantile regression (QR) approach to analyse contingent valuation estimates of public willingness to pay (WTP) for the air and noise pollution reductions associated with the introduction of hydrogen buses in London. QR results show that variables that were not significant in interval regression or ordinary least squares regression become significant at certain quantiles along the WTP distribution. In addition, the determinants of WTP at the lower tail of the distribution differ from those at the higher end of the distribution. Our findings illustrate the usefulness of quantile regression methods for analysing contingent valuation data, enhancing our understanding of the determinants of willingness to pay.
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Acknowledgements
We thank Roger Koenker, Peter Pearson, Paul Johnson, David Hart, two anonymous reviewers and the editor for very helpful comments. We also thank Tiago Neves for his data from the ACCEPTH2 project, as well as Lisa Garrity, Simon Whitehouse, Matthias Altmann, Cornelia Grasel and Anne Stevcevski for valuable collaboration in the design of the core questionnaire. Finally, we acknowledge financial support from the European Union under the ACCEPTH2 project (Contract No ENK5-CT-2002-80653) and from the John Stanley Studentship (for Tanya O’Garra).
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O’Garra, T., Mourato, S. Public Preferences for Hydrogen Buses: Comparing Interval Data, OLS and Quantile Regression Approaches. Environ Resource Econ 36, 389–411 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10640-006-9024-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10640-006-9024-0