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A Latent Class Analysis of Public Attitudes toward Water Resources with Implications for Recreational Demand

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  • Ehrlich, Oren
  • Bi, Xiang
  • Borisova, Tatiana
  • Larkin, Sherry

Abstract

This study examines the extent to which heterogeneous environmental attitudes influence recreational demand in a river basin and the valuation of recreational benefits. We first employed a latent class analysis to reveal two distinct classes of respondents that differ in their environmental attitudes despite representing similar demographic characteristics. We then estimated a recreational demand model conditional on respondent’s latent class membership after controlling for the probabilistic nature of the membership classification. We found that environmental attitudes directly influence consumer recreational demand and valuation. Ignoring preference heterogeneity leads to overestimation of the recreational benefits.

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  • Ehrlich, Oren & Bi, Xiang & Borisova, Tatiana & Larkin, Sherry, 2016. "A Latent Class Analysis of Public Attitudes toward Water Resources with Implications for Recreational Demand," 2016 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2, Boston, Massachusetts 235853, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:aaea16:235853
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.235853
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    3. Gosal, Arjan S. & Geijzendorffer, Ilse R. & Václavík, Tomáš & Poulin, Brigitte & Ziv, Guy, 2019. "Using social media, machine learning and natural language processing to map multiple recreational beneficiaries," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 1-1.
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    6. Arjan S. Gosal & Janine A. McMahon & Katharine M. Bowgen & Catherine H. Hoppe & Guy Ziv, 2021. "Identifying and Mapping Groups of Protected Area Visitors by Environmental Awareness," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(6), pages 1-14, May.
    7. Borisova, Tatiana & Bi, Xiang & Hodges, Alan & Holland, Stephen, 2017. "Is the tide is changing? Assessing costs and benefits of dam removal and river restoration: a case study in Florida," 2017 Annual Meeting, February 4-7, 2017, Mobile, Alabama 252833, Southern Agricultural Economics Association.

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