Bang Kachao, the largest green area in the Bangkok metropolitan area, delivers significant ecosystem services to sustain society free of charge. It is therefore difficult to achieve socially optimal services because of inefficient allocation of resources, over-consumption, and negative externalities resulting from market failures. This study’s purpose is to assess consumers’ willingness to pay (WTP) for enhancing ecosystem services from the Bang Kachao Green Area and to investigate factors influencing the WTP of Bangkok residents. A choice experiment was applied by interviewing 200 respondents living in the Bangkok metropolitan area. The data were collected between July and September 2016 and analyzed using a conditional logit model. The results reveal that the respondents are willing to pay 42 USD per year to improve the ecosystem services in Bang Kachao. The respondents demand clean air the most, followed by food, recreation, and bird diversity. The government of Bangkok may take proactive steps to promote agroforestry and ecotourism in Bang Kachao. A Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) scheme may ensure the provision of ecosystem services in Bang Kachao.

Feeding operations are substantial on livestock farms, besides being potentially expensive. Feeding efficiency has been considered a major influence on profits in the livestock industry. Indeed, feed costs are shown to be the largest single item of production cost in Korea. To promote production and use of domestic forage, the Korean government has enforced the forage base expansion program that strengthens the competitiveness of the livestock industry by reducing the production cost. The forage base expansion program includes three main policies: subsidized forage production, support for processing and distribution, and expanding land for forage production. This paper investigates the influence of the government’s policies often conjectured to have pronounced effects on forage production. To evaluate the forage policies, this paper uses a path-analysis approach linking government spending on forage base expansion programs and feed costs. Results indicate that the Korean government’s spending on supporting domestic forage production results in a decrease in the ratio of forage expenses to total feed cost.

The government of Laos has made significant efforts to halt deforestation and promote forest conservation in the Northern Uplands of Laos. However, there is no comprehensive assessment of the initiatives and factors that influence youth involvement in forest resource conservation. Therefore, the objective of this study was to identify sustainable forest management practices and factors affecting youth behaviors related to forest conservation. Methodologically, our study was conducted in three districts, covering 15 villages, with 330 youths who were selected by systematic sampling to participate in structured interviews, statistically using multiple regressions to identify factors influencing sustainable forest management behaviors. The results indicated that conservation knowledge and recognition are associated with demographic and socioeconomic factors, especially education. Factors related to forest conservation recognition included the amount of information available, gender, monthly income, land ownership, and distance from the forest to home. Most households rely on forest products for their livelihoods. It is concluded that higher levels of education provide people with more job opportunities, which improves their job status and quality of life. Community members who received relevant information were more forward-thinking in their forest management behaviors and willing to contribute to related activities. The empirical evidence indicated that providing essential information to young people can help improve sustainable forest management behaviors.

This study examines consumer preferences for grading and traceability systems in poultry products, specifically chicken and duck, which are currently excluded from mandatory grading and labeling regulations in South Korea. Using data from a discrete choice experiment, we estimate willingness to pay (WTP) through multinomial and random parameter logit models. Results indicate that consumers assign the highest value to products with both grading and traceability information, followed by those with only grading or only traceability. These findings suggest that consumers place significant importance on transparent and reliable product information, even for poultry. While the estimated WTP may be subject to hypothetical bias, the relative preferences highlight the potential benefits of extending these systems to poultry products. Policy implications include the need for more refined studies to support effective grading and traceability implementation in the poultry sector. Further empirical research and more refined survey designs are necessary to support the development of effective policy and pricing strategies in the poultry sector.

This study analyzed factors affecting profit efficiency of rice farms in wet-season lowlands in the Champhone District of Savannakhet Province in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic based on a farmer’s decision to maximize profits. The profit efficiency approach has an advantage in that it provides insights into both inputs and outputs. To analyze profit efficiency, the stochastic production frontier model with assumptions about the time period and types of inputs was applied in the study. The study found similar results to previous studies related to efficiency measurements using a stochastic frontier analysis. Rice production and selling prices have positive signs with respect to the rate of return; however, costs of labor, seed, irrigation, fertilizers, and maintenance have negative signs with respect to the rate of revenue. However, the results from the inefficiency model showed the different role of education. The previous studies found that education level did not play an important role in improving rice productivity in Laos, however, the present study found that education level played a significant role in increasing profits.