Attitudinal Drivers of Home Bias in Stated Preferences Towards International Public Goods. Hybrid Choice Modelling Evidence from Transboundary Nature Protected Areas

Abstract

We assess what drives the lower valuation of nature protection on the other side of the border in two European transboundary nature areas, the Białowieża Forest (Poland and Belarus), and Fulufjället (Norway and Sweden). Applying hybrid choice modelling, we account for people’s attitudes when eliciting their preferences for extensions of transboundary nature protected areas. We examine the impact of attitudes on the home bias effect appearing in preferences stated towards transboundary nature protected areas. We find that the intention of visiting the foreign part of the transboundary area, appreciation of transboundary justice and altruism, and anticipation of unilateral foreign provision, are the main systemic determinants of home bias. Suspicious attitude towards the neighbouring country, and manifestations of ‘patriotism’ apply as home bias drivers to a limited degree only. Facilitating visits of the foreign part by enhancing cross-border access can be expected to shift peoples’ preferences towards transboundary co-operation.

Keywords: International public goods, home bias, transboundary nature protected areas, public preferences, Willingness to Pay, Discrete choice experiment, hybrid modelling