Willingness to pay for improved air quality in Sweden

The aim of the paper is to quantify individual willingness-to-pay measures of improved air quality in Sweden by using the Contingent Valuation Method (CVM). Such measures are important for policy makers when deciding about pu blic investments and policy instruments in order to regulate environmental impacts, e.g. from road transportation and industry. The mean willingness t o pay (WTP) for a 50% reduction of harmful substances where the respondents live and work was about 2000 SEK/year, which is of the same order of magni tude as earlier stated preference studies in Nordic countries. Most paramet ers in the econometric analysis had the expected sign. WTP was increasing i n income, wealth and education; it was larger for men, members of environme ntal organizations, people living in big cities (which are on average more polluted), and people who own their house or apartment. It was lower for re tired people. However, the additional WTP for people in big cities, althoug h significantly higher than for other people, was lower than expected, indi cating a possible insensitivity-to-scope effect.