Integrating indirect and non-use biodiversity-related ecosystem services benefits into ecosystem accounting: A discrete choice experiment and simulated exchange value approach

Abstract

This paper proposes and empirically illustrates a valuation framework that integrates social heterogeneity into exchange-value based ecosystem accounting while preserving accounting coherence. The framework combines a discrete choice experiment anchored to ecosystem condition stocks, a latent class model of preference heterogeneity, and a control function approach to address the endogeneity of social norms. Ecosystem service changes are framed as transitional stock processes, expressed as relative distances from locally defined ecological potentials, enabling a direct linkage between stated preferences, ecosystem condition accounts, and accounting time conventions. Stock-dependent marginal willingness to pay is approximated using quadratic utility specifications, and reformulated into accounting-consistent monetary indicators. The framework is applied to five biodiversity-related ecosystem services provided by urban parks in Brescia, Italy, using survey data from 468 residents. The results reveal substantial and systematic heterogeneity in preferences across social groups, and show that social norms and stock dependence materially affect accounting-consistent exchange values. The study contributes to the ecosystem accounting and stated preference literature by providing a transparent and operational pathway for incorporating socially differentiated demand into exchange-value based ecosystem accounts, while explicitly acknowledging the conceptual and empirical limitations associated with monetizing indirect and non-use ecosystem services in urban environments.

Keywords: Simulated exchange value, Biodiversity conservation, SEEA, System of National Accounts, Discrete choice experiment, Latent class, Social norms