Studies in Regional Science
Online ISSN : 1880-6465
Print ISSN : 0287-6256
ISSN-L : 0287-6256
Articles
Attempt to Measure Willingness to Pay for Disaster Prevention Measures in an Immersive Virtual Reality Environment
──Implementation of Effect Measurement and Examination of Applicability──
Tokio OTSUKA
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2024 Volume 54 Issue 2 Pages 103-119

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Abstract

 This study investigated the willingness-to-pay (WTP) for disaster reduction measures using immersive virtual reality equipment, and examined its usefulness and potential for future use. Conventionally, contingent valuation method (CVM) has used photographs and illustrations as aids in explaining questions. Attempts have also been made to use short videos and computer graphic techniques with the aim of obtaining more accurate results by providing the evaluator with a large amount of information. In this study, immersive virtual reality equipment, which has become increasingly popular in recent years, was used to provide more realistic information and to confirm its impact on the results of willingness-to-pay measurements.

 In the empirical survey, a flood scenario was created as a specific disaster prevention measure, and CVM was conducted using immersive virtual reality equipment. The following three effects were expected from the use of immersive virtual reality equipment to simulate the experience of encountering a flood. (1) it would boost respondent WTP for disaster reduction measures, (2) it would stabilize variation in WTP among respondents for disaster reduction measures, and (3) it would improve the reliability of the analysis for disaster reduction measures.

 The results of the empirical study comparing the flood prevention scenario with the environmental protection scenario did not confirm the above three effects as a statistically significance. On the other hand, a simple comparison of average indicators confirmed the superiority of immersive virtual reality equipment in measuring willingness-to-pay for several indicators.

JEL classification:L96

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© 2024 by The Japan Section of the Regional Science Association International
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