Between complexity and unfamiliarity: Preferences for soil-based ecosystem services

Bartosz Bartkowski, Julian Richard Massenberg and Nele Lienhoop

No 3/2022, UFZ Discussion Papers from Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), Division of Social Sciences (ÖKUS)

Abstract: Soils provide multiple benefits for human well-being, which are largely invisible to most beneficiaries. Here, we present the results of a discrete choice experiment into the preferences of Germans for soil-based ecosystem services. To tackle complexity and unfamiliarity of soils, we express soil-based ecosystem service attributes relative to the site-specific potential of soils to provide them. We investigate how knowledge about soils, awareness of their contributions to human well-being and experience with droughts and floods affect the preferences. We find substantial yet heterogeneous preferences for soil-based ecosystem services. Only some measures of familiarity exhibit significant effects on preferences.

Keywords: Agriculture; Discrete choice experiment; Ecosystem services; Nonmarket valuation; Stated preferences; Soil functions; Willingness to pay (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q24 Q51 Q57 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr, nep-dcm and nep-env
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:ufzdps:32022

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