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Public provision of four‐wheeled walkers: Contingent valuation study of economic benefit
Author(s) -
Haines Terry,
Brown Cassandra,
Morrison Jan
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
australasian journal on ageing
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.63
H-Index - 34
eISSN - 1741-6612
pISSN - 1440-6381
DOI - 10.1111/j.1741-6612.2008.00302.x
Subject(s) - contingent valuation , liberian dollar , bidding , equity (law) , valuation (finance) , actuarial science , willingness to pay , economics , public economics , business , microeconomics , finance , political science , law
Objective: To quantify the economic value of publicly provided four‐wheeled walkers as judged by recipients in Queensland, Australia.Method: Contingent valuation study using willingness‐to‐pay approach. A sample of 49 Australian older adults who received a publicly funded four‐wheeled walker in the past 3 months completed the survey via telephone. A discrete choice bidding response format with a randomly selected starting bid was employed to glean valuations.Results: This approach yielded only one non‐response, and one zero dollar response. The mean (standard deviation) valuation provided was $A290 ($A167), which was $A84 in excess of the price paid by the public provider agency to purchase the equipment. Starting bid was significantly associated with values provided.Conclusion: The current public provision program of four‐wheeled walkers is likely to generate net societal benefit. These findings coupled with arguments based on equity build a moderate case for the continuation of this program.