The value of the risk to life is a key element for benefit-cost analysis, enabling more rational public policy decisions in diverse areas as environmental, health, and crime. We value the risk to life in the context of crime using a discrete choice experiment (CE). The method has clear advantages in that it applies to the whole population and does not require vast data from labor markets, for example. Such data are not always available even in developed economies. Combining the stated preference approach with contingent valuation (CV), CE offer advantages yet to be explored in the context of crime. We demonstrate the application in a developing economy, where similar valuations are not available. The best estimate obtained for Argentina is an average of 1.5 million in 2015 US dollars per statistical life with a confidence interval ($1.1–$2.3). This result is consistent with estimates for the developed world, after appropriate transfer. We also analyze demographic factors in the risk to life, finding a positive influence of income, risk aversion, previous victimization experience and family size on the value of a statistical life, as well as a negative impact of individualism.

This paper proposes a multi-country model of international migration in which college-educated workers choose destination countries, preferred types of visas, and the optimal durations of stay. In this framework, I investigate the global implications of further development of the European Union (EU) program of preferential temporary visas for the highly skilled immigrants and compare them to the effects of income tax allowances for medium-term, college-educated, foreign workers. The two counterfactuals indicate a significant rise in the yearly inflows and total stocks of college-educated immigrants into the EU. The outcomes of the former policy are driven by a “visa-substitution” effect within the group of current migrants, while the latter scenario results in an increase in the pool of international migrants. Both policies induce a “destination–substitution” effect: losses of skilled migrants by non-EU states, which is reinforced by multilateral resistance to migration that is micro-founded in the model.

This paper examines the petroleum industry's willingness to participate in conservation agreements for the lesser prairie chicken, a candidate for listing under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Voluntary conservation agreements with assurances (VCAAs) can incentivize habitat conservation and sustain economic development. Using data on oil and natural gas wells in Kansas and Oklahoma, I develop a discrete choice model to examine company preferences for locating wells and participating in VCAAs for the lesser prairie chicken. Participation in VCAAs is low, but I find participating wells are concentrated in areas with the most crucial habitat.

Invasive plants continue to spread in riparian ecosystems, causing both ecological and economic damage. This research investigated the impacts of common reed, purple loosestrife, riparian shrubland, and riparian woodlands on the quality and quantity of sandhill crane roosting habitat in the central Platte River, Nebraska, using a discrete choice model. A more detailed investigation of the impacts of common reed on sandhill crane roosting habitat was performed by forecasting a spread or contraction of this invasive plant. The discrete choice model indicates that riparian woodlands had the largest negative impact on sandhill crane roosting habitat. The forecasting results predict that a contraction of common reed could increase sandhill crane habitat availability by 50%, whereas an expansion could reduce the availability by as much as 250%. This suggests that if the distribution of common reed continues to expand in the central Platte River the availability of sandhill crane roosting habitat would likely be greatly reduced.