Abstract Economistsgenerallyemploytwo ‘revealed preference’ approaches to measure households’ preferences for non-market amenities—the hedonic and equilibrium sorting models. The conventional model assumes free mobility across space. Violation of this assumption can bias the estimates household willingness pay local amenities. Mobility constraints are more easily handled by framework. In chapte...

There is a growing awareness that farmland provides a host of nonmarket services, or amenities. Amenities are external benefits of farmland, i.e., beyond commodity production revenues, accruing to all types of residents (or “amenity consumers”) in rural, suburban, and urban areas. Farmland amenities may include aesthetically pleasing views, habitat provision, groundwater recharge, and a lack of...

The economic health of a community is vitally important for attracting and retaining businesses and for creating an environment in which people want to live, work, and play. Rural communities in North Carolina rely on a variety of partners and programs to build local capacity for job creation and the development of quality-of-life amenities.

Amenities such as good food, attentive staff, and pleasant surroundings may play an important role in hospital demand. We use a marketing survey to measure amenities at hospitals in greater Los Angeles and analyze the choice behavior of Medicare pneumonia patients in this market. We find that the mean valuation of amenities is positive and substantial. From the patient perspective, hospital qua...

This article discusses the preferences, habits, and needs of graduate students as they relate to spaces for research and study. The findings are based on a large-scale ethnographic study of graduate students at Florida State University conducted between 2010 and 2013. Using a variety of ethnographic methods, researchers found that graduate students have diverse needs and unequal access to appro...

BACKGROUND The digital divide persists despite broad accessibility of mobile tools. The relationship between the digital divide and health disparities reflects social status in terms of access to resources and health outcomes; however, data on this relationship are limited from developing countries such as China. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to examine the current rates of access to mo...