Vincent Chung

Immersive virtual reality (VR) has been proposed as a way to help respondents value unfamiliar environmental goods, yet its effects on stated preference validity remain largely untested. Using a preregistered 2×2 experiment (N=246), we compare fully immersive, multisensory VR with high-quality video for Amazon rainforest conservation under real and hypothetical donations, among the first contingent valuation applications of fully immersive VR. Both formats produced scope-sensitive valuations with comparable elasticities. Neither format reduced hypothetical bias, with hypothetical willingness to pay (WTP) approximately five times higher than real donations. Exploratory within-VR analyses show that perceived realism and emotional engagement were associated with higher hypothetical WTP while real donations remained stable, whereas presence was associated with stronger scope sensitivity without increasing hypothetical bias. These findings suggest that immersive technologies reshape stated preference validity profiles rather than uniformly improving valuation quality, and that high-quality video may provide a lower-cost alternative for environmental valuation applications.

Most regulatory frameworks require cost-benefit analyses to justify restrictions on harmful chemicals. Yet valuation studies on the non-fatal health impacts of these substances remain geographically scattered and insufficient to offer robust policy guidance. We contribute to filling this gap by eliciting the Willingness-to-Pay (WTP) to avoid IQ losses in children due to chemical exposure across eleven OECD countries (N=13,200), as part of the OECD SWACHE project. We use a double-bounded contingent valuation approach leveraging the link between a child’s IQ and their educational outcomes — standardized exam performance and dropout rates in mandatory school — to allow respondents to value measurable consequences of cognitive losses. Our design accounts for the non-linear relationship between IQ and educational attainment, with the same absolute IQ loss leading to larger changes in exam performance and dropout rates at lower starting levels. We test for scope sensitivity by varying the IQ loss (1 versus 5 IQ points) and initial IQ level, mapping each baseline to the implied changes in educational outcomes. We find a pooled mean annual WTP of USD2022 PPP 609 per IQ point, with country-specific values ranging from 327 (United Kingdom) to 935 (Poland). Respondents facing the same absolute IQ loss state higher WTP per IQ point when the implied educational consequences are more severe, suggesting they value the consequences of IQ losses rather than IQ points per se. We provide country-specific values and a flexible benefit transfer formula that can accommodate changes in income growth, prices, and scientific evidence on the IQ–education relationship.

Exposure to chemicals has been shown to cause skin sensitisation, leading to chronic conditions such as allergic contact dermatitis. Beyond physical symptoms, skin sensitisation can also reduce one’s quality of life, impair productivity and cause psychological distress. Despite its prevalence, information on the value that the public places on avoiding chemical-induced skin sensitisation remains limited. To fill this gap, the present paper details a stated preference survey estimating individuals’ willingness-to-pay to avoid the frequency, severity and visibility of skin flare-ups in nine countries (Canada, Denmark, Japan, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States). It also explores how other socio-economic factors such as age, gender and income affect the valuation of skin sensitisation. This work is part of a series of large-scale studies resulting from the Surveys on Willingness-to-Pay to Avoid Negative Chemicals-Related Health Effects project that intends to establish internationally comparable values for the willingness-to-pay to avoid negative health effects due to exposure to chemicals. The results from this paper are expected to be widely applicable in analyses assessing the value of reduced skin sensitisation in a range of chemical and environmental contexts.

Octocrilene is a widely used UV filter in sunscreens and other cosmetics. It is persistent and toxic to aquatic invertebrates, and ANSES has proposed restricting it under EU REACH. To value the ecological benefits of such a restriction, we conducted a stated preference survey combining a discrete choice experiment (DCE) and contingent valuation (CV) with representative samples of 7,200 adults in six EEA countries (Bulgaria, France, Germany, Hungary, Spain and Sweden; 1,200 per country). Respondents valued improvements in the state of freshwater and coastal ecosystems, described as the recovery of invertebrate and fish species. They paid through higher prices for octocrilene-free cosmetics over five years. Mean CV willingness to pay averaged €57, €71 and €75 per household per year (PPP) for low, medium and high improvement. DCE estimates were considerably higher (€74 in Hungary to €503 in Sweden per level of improvement), consistent with the CV being the more conservative format. Transferring the CV values to 203 million EEA households gives aggregate benefits of €24–49 billion (present value), against estimated restriction costs of about €354 million. Benefits exceed costs even if households were willing to pay only €0.37 per year. The valuation informed the ANSES Annex XV restriction proposal.