The effect of substitutes on preferences of Great Britain population for ecological de- intensification of agriculture

Seeking to inform policy makers of Great Britain (GB) on priority places for incentivizing the shift away from high-intensity agriculture, the paper measures the effect of substitutes on preferences for low intensity agriculture and woodland, and related ecological and recreational benefits. For this, a dataset was collected with a novel methodology that incorporates the spatial nature of goods into the design of discrete choice experiments. In this approach, the options were presented to respondents both in the traditional tabular format and in an innovative personalized map format. To analyse the effects of substitutes on respondents’ choices and aggregate willingness to pay, an overview of approaches is provided from the extant literature. Two metrics of substitute availability were constructed from a map classifying intensity of agriculture across whole GB. The effect of substitutes was relevant statistically and avoided biasing downward the estimation of GB population willingness to pay in 30%. In addition, the perception of relative attractiveness of sites was more consistent amongst respondents exposed to maps, attesting the effect of presentation format on preferences for spatially located environmental benefits. JEL Codes and