Pesticide risk valuation in empirical economics: a comparative approach

Abstract

Pesticide use in agriculture poses several risks to both human health and non-target agro-ecosystems. Due to lack of information on the monetary value of reducing pesticide risks, it is difficult to perform an economic analysis that addresses social efficiency of policy and draws conclusions about the appropriate degree of regulation. The aim of the current paper is to present a critical overview of the empirical literature on pesticide risk valuation that provides disaggregate willingness-to-pay estimates (WTPs) of pesticide risks reduction. Recent multidimensional classification methods, such as coined decision tree analysis, are used in a comparative approach as tools for explaining the differences in empirical research findings. The analysis shows that the magnitude of WTPs is related to both the valuation technique and to the data available from biomedical and eco-toxicological literature. It also shows that WTP estimates of pesticide risks cannot be simply averaged over several empirical studies. The order of magnitude of a WTP estimate is, in fact, related to the specific type of risk and to the nature of the risk scenario considered, as well to lay people's subjective perception of risks.

Valuing financial, health, and environmental benefits of Bt cotton in Pakistan

“…This is a research gap. As is well known, chemical pesticide use can be associated with significant health and environmental risks (Pingali, 2001;Travisi et al, 2006). This is especially true in developing countries, where pesticide regulations tend to be laxer and spraying operations are often carried out manually with little or no protective clothing (Pingali et al, 1994;Maumbe and Swinton, 2003).…”

Comprehensive survey of the present status of environmental management of pesticides consumption in rice paddies

“…Due to the lack of information about the monetary value of pesticide risk reduction, it is difficult to perform economic analysis to address the social efficiency of policy and draw a conclusion about the appropriate degree of regulation. 27) Similar research was performed by Zink in 2008 28) using concepts for the integrated assessment and design of organizations, and an approach for analyzing the current situation was established to identify the "lack of integration" in the change initiatives of a company. Along with the development of pests and consumer resistance to pesticides, pest-management and economic incentives increase the emphasis on these alternative non-residual/non-chemical measures.…”

Managing environmental risk in agriculture: a systematic perspective on the potential of quantitative policy-oriented risk valuation

“…: Smith and Huang, 1995;van den Bergh et al, 1997;Button and Kerr, 1996;Button, 1995). In the context of agricultural risks, meta-analysis for tracing factors that are responsible for differing results across similar studies that estimate the WTP for reduced pesticide risk exposure, have been provided by Travisi et al 2006a andFlorax et al 2005. However, the application of meta-analysis for agrochemical risk value transfer is still unexplored.…”

“…These variants of the survey method differ in the way in which the economic values are elicited (see Nunes, 2002). Currently, an extensive empirical literature on agro-chemical risk valuation using Stated Preference techniques is available (for complete reviews of pesticide risk valuation literature see Travisi et al, 2006a;Florax et al 2005). The WTP estimates provided in this literature refer to the effects of different types of risks, in particular to impacts on human health, and to damages to environmental agro-ecosystems.…”