title: Sad or happy? The effects of emotions on stated preferences for environmental goods

authors: Hanley, Nick

subjects: Choice experiments

abstract: A substantial literature in behavioural science and psychology shows that emotions affect human choices and values. This paper investigates whether such emotional impacts are also present in stated choice experiments for environmental goods. If this were so, it would introduce an additional element of context dependence to the welfare measures derived from such methods, and would be at odds with the rational choice model underlying welfare economics. A laboratory experiment using three different emotion treatments was combined with a stated preference choice experiment concerned with changes in coastal water quality and fish populations in New Zealand. No statistically significant effects of changes in emotional state on estimated preference parameters, willingness to pay or the randomness of choices were found. The paper concludes by questioning, why such a contrast exists with empirical findings in behavioural science.

text: Sad or happy? The effects of emotions on stated preferences for environmental goods A substantial literature in behavioural science and psychology shows that emotions affect human choices and values. This paper investigates whether such emotional impacts are also present in stated choice experiments for environmental goods. If this were so, it would introduce an additional element of context dependence to the welfare measures derived from such methods, and would be at odds with the rational choice model underlying welfare economics. A laboratory experiment using three different emotion treatments was combined with a stated preference choice experiment concerned with changes in coastal water quality and fish populations in New Zealand. No statistically significant effects of changes in emotional state on estimated preference parameters, willingness to pay or the randomness of choices were found. The paper concludes by questioning, why such a contrast exists with empirical findings in behavioural science.

year: 2017

title: Learning to use operational advice

authors: Fürnkranz, Johannes

subjects: computer science

abstract: We address the problem of advice-taking in a given domain, in particular for building a game-playing program. Our approach to solving it strives for the application of machine learning techniques throughout, i.e. for avoiding knowledge elicitation by any other means as much as possible. In particular, we build upon existing work on the operationalization of advice by machine and assume that advice is already available in operational form. The relative importance of this advice is, however, not yet known can therefore not be utilized well by a program. This paper presents an approach to determine the relative importance for a given situation through reinforcement learning. We implemented this approach for the game of Hearts and gathered some empirical evidence on its usefulness through experiments. The results show that the programs built according to our approach learned to make good use of the given operational advice.

text: Learning to use operational advice We address the problem of advice-taking in a given domain, in particular for building a game-playing program. Our approach to solving it strives for the application of machine learning techniques throughout, i.e. for avoiding knowledge elicitation by any other means as much as possible. In particular, we build upon existing work on the operationalization of advice by machine and assume that advice is already available in operational form. The relative importance of this advice is, however, not yet known can therefore not be utilized well by a program. This paper presents an approach to determine the relative importance for a given situation through reinforcement learning. We implemented this approach for the game of Hearts and gathered some empirical evidence on its usefulness through experiments. The results show that the programs built according to our approach learned to make good use of the given operational advice.

year: 2000

title: The alienation of the Opuatia block: A GIS case study report written for Counting our Tūpuna

authors: Whitehead, Jesse

abstract: This report provides an analysis and visualisation of the fragmentation and alienation of the Opuatia block (Opuatia hereafter), as well as changes in its ownership and geographic structure since 1866.
The three main aims are to quantify the amount of Opuatia remaining in Ngāti Tiipa ownership at the end of each decade, identifying critical moments in time, and highlighting the processes through which Opuatia was alienated and fragmented. These questions are addressed through a bespoke method that was developed to link data from several sources. These include (but are not limited to) historic records of land alienation, held by the Māori Land Court, and geospatial information available through Land Information New Zealand.
The key findings show that approximately 94% of the original Opuatia has been alienated, with only small parcles of land remaining in Ngāti Tiipa ownership. The late 1890s and early 1900s were a criticial period where over 80% of alienations were carried out. The results inidcate that the Crown was a key driver of this process, directly alienating more than 18,000 acres from Opuatia, much of which was taken on a single day in 1896. Individual settlers were responsible for most other alienations, and some of the same names appear several times in the historical record as settler families alienated clusters of land to build up significant stakes in the area. Finally, another result of this report is the method itself, which outlines an approach for tracing a defined block of land through the Native Land Court and linking this information to geospatial datasets.
The limitations of this report include the poor interoperability of key data sources, and the barriers that this presents to other hapū or organisations who may want to replicate this work. A more detailed investigation of archival records is required to examine the specific reasons behind why each parent block, and the subdivisions with them, was alienated from Ngāti Tiipa ownership.

text: The alienation of the Opuatia block: A GIS case study report written for Counting our Tūpuna This report provides an analysis and visualisation of the fragmentation and alienation of the Opuatia block (Opuatia hereafter), as well as changes in its ownership and geographic structure since 1866.
The three main aims are to quantify the amount of Opuatia remaining in Ngāti Tiipa ownership at the end of each decade, identifying critical moments in time, and highlighting the processes through which Opuatia was alienated and fragmented. These questions are addressed through a bespoke method that was developed to link data from several sources. These include (but are not limited to) historic records of land alienation, held by the Māori Land Court, and geospatial information available through Land Information New Zealand.
The key findings show that approximately 94% of the original Opuatia has been alienated, with only small parcles of land remaining in Ngāti Tiipa ownership. The late 1890s and early 1900s were a criticial period where over 80% of alienations were carried out. The results inidcate that the Crown was a key driver of this process, directly alienating more than 18,000 acres from Opuatia, much of which was taken on a single day in 1896. Individual settlers were responsible for most other alienations, and some of the same names appear several times in the historical record as settler families alienated clusters of land to build up significant stakes in the area. Finally, another result of this report is the method itself, which outlines an approach for tracing a defined block of land through the Native Land Court and linking this information to geospatial datasets.
The limitations of this report include the poor interoperability of key data sources, and the barriers that this presents to other hapū or organisations who may want to replicate this work. A more detailed investigation of archival records is required to examine the specific reasons behind why each parent block, and the subdivisions with them, was alienated from Ngāti Tiipa ownership.

year: 2021