Multiattribute-revealed preference data are used to investigate heterogeneity in a sample of kayakers for a panel of whitewater sites in Ireland. This article focuses on a comparison of preference heterogeneity using a random parameter logit model with correlated tastes and a latent class model, in terms of the implications for welfare measures of environmental quality and site-access changes. Recreationalists' skill levels are found to affect preferences in both approaches. Statistics for the estimated distribution of welfare changes for the average respondent are computed for changes in site attributes, but contrary to previous work, these are found to be of similar magnitude.Key words: latent class models, preference heterogeneity, random parameter logit, whitewater kayaking.For many years, the assumption that preferences are homogenous dominated revealed preference analysis of the demand for nonmarket goods albeit with some notable exceptions such as Morey (1981) and Morey, Rowe, and Watson (1993). In a seminal paper, Train (1998) emphasized that explicit recognition of taste heterogeneity is important in the estimation of destination choice random utility models to avoid bias in attribute coefficient estimates, biased welfare change measurements from site attribute variations, and ultimately poor policy decisions. In this article we analyze site choice decisions for whitewater kayakers, comparing two empirical models that have recently emerged as a way of accounting for unobserved taste heterogeneity across individuals, namely the random parameter logit (RPL) model and the latent class (logit) model (LCM). The RPL model and LCM are chosen because they have been championed as the most promising specifications to address unobserved taste heterogeneity, and yet represent fundamentally different approaches from that employed in more traditional fixed parameter logit models (Wedel et al. 1999;Greene and Hensher 2003;Morey, Thacher, and Breffle 2006).In contrast to the approach taken by Provencher and Bishop (2004), we focus on the implications of the choice between LCM and RPL for the estimation of welfare impacts, in terms of per choice occasion consumers' surplus from changes in environmental quality and site-access conditions. We also examine differences in the distribution of welfare effects across visitors estimated from the two approaches. Following extensive specification searches we find evidence that the individual's skill level affects heterogeneity of taste in a systematic way, so we allow skill to enter both approaches in a conceptually equivalent way by making the attribute mean estimates and the membership probabilities conditional on the skill of the kayaker in the RPL and the LCM, respectively. By doing so, we find that using a latent class approach results in similar mean welfare estimates to that of an RPL. This is in contrast to previous research.One may think of individual whitewater sites as different bundles of a given set of attributes. Taking these attributes into account, kayakers make c...

This research utilises two valuation techniques (a frequency-based choice experiment model and a contingent behaviour model) to value a range of improvements to recreational facilities in forest and woodlands in Great Britain. We provide the first comparison in the literature of welfare results from these two approaches. Four groups of forest users are targeted in this research: cyclists, horse riders, nature watchers and general forest visitors, and look also at ''sub-groupings'' within these classes of forest user. We found that heterogeneity of preferences exists within each of these groups. In particular, more specialist forest user groups attain generally higher values for improvements than general users. For example, downhill mountain bikers were willing to pay more for the provision of dedicated downhill courses than family cyclists for easy cycle trails. It is also argued that the use of a frequencybased choice task in the choice experiment has advantages over the more traditional choice tasks for applications such as forest recreation since a frequency-based task better reflects ARTICLE IN PRESS www.elsevier.de/jfe 1104-6899/$ -see front matter (M. Christie).actual behaviour and encourages respondents to pay closer attention to the ''distance travelled'' attribute.

The deep-sea includes over 90% of the world oceans and is thought to be one of the most diverse ecosystems in the World. It supplies society with valuable ecosystem services, including the provision of food, the regeneration of nutrients and the sequestration of carbon. Technological advancements in the second half of the 20th century made large-scale exploitation of mineral-, hydrocarbon-and fish resources possible. These economic activities, combined with climate change impacts, constitute a considerable threat to deep-sea biodiversity. Many governments, including that of the UK, have therefore decided to implement additional protected areas in their waters of national jurisdiction. To support the decision process and to improve our understanding for the acceptance of marine conservation plans across the general public, a choice experiment survey asked Scottish households for their willingness-to-pay for additional marine protected areas in the Scottish deep-sea. This study is one of the first to use valuation methodologies to investigate public preferences for the protection of deep-sea ecosystems. The experiment focused on the elicitation of economic values for two aspects of biodiversity: (i) the existence value for deep-sea species and (ii) the option-use value of deep-sea organisms as a source for future medicinal products. Acknowledgments:We thank Mirko Moro, Dugald Tinch and Neil Odam for their invaluable input on survey and experimental design. Funding for this project was provided by MASTS (Marine Alliance for Science and Technology Scotland).

No abstract

Globally, Invasive Alien Species (IAS) are considered to be one of the major threats to native biodiversity, with the World Conservation Union (IUCN) citing their impacts as 'immense, insidious, and usually irreversible'. It is estimated that 11% of the c. 12,000 alien species in Europe are invasive, causing environmental, economic and social damage; and it is reasonable to expect that the rate of biological invasions into Europe will increase in the coming years. In order to assess the current position regarding IAS in Europe and to determine the issues that were deemed to be most important or critical regarding these damaging species, the international Freshwater Invasives -Networking for Strategy (FINS) conference was convened in Ireland in April 2013. Delegates from throughout Europe and invited speakers from around the world were brought together for the conference. These comprised academics, applied scientists, policy makers, politicians, practitioners and representative stakeholder groups. A horizon scanning and issue prioritization approach was used by in excess of 100 expert delegates in a workshop setting to elucidate the Top 20 IAS issues in Europe. These issues do not focus solely on freshwater habitats and taxa but relate also to marine and terrestrial situations. The Top 20 issues that resulted represent a tool for IAS management and should also be used to support policy makers as they prepare European IAS legislation.