Table 1.
A summary of the literature on estimates of the value of time (vot) in low- and middle-income countries.
| Author(s) | Sector | Country | Location | Valuation method | Date of fieldwork | Sample size | Results | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Whittington et al. (1990) | Water supply | Kenya | Ukunda (small market town) | Revealed preference (actual water source choices, MNL) | 1986 | 69 | “Bounding” results (pp. 273–274) imply VTT ~100% imputed wages; RUM results imply VTT ~125% of local unskilled wages | |
| Asthana (1997) | Water supply | India | Rural | Revealed preferences (actual water source choices, probit) | ? | 245 | VTT ~ 35% of the unskilled wage rate (as fixed by Labor Commission) | Little information on survey effort or sample frame |
| Dissanayake and Morikawa (2002) | Transport | Thailand | Bangkok | Revealed preference (actual mode choice, nested logit) | 1995 | 1,205 | Mean VTT of 27 Thai baht/hour, but no description of average wage rates in sample. Cost parameter expressed as fraction of income | First level of nested model is ownership of car or motorcycle; lower level models mode choice. Two-commuter households only |
| Alpizar and Carlsson (2003) | Transport | Costa Rica | San Jose | Stated preference (repeated discrete choice, MNL and RPL) | 2000 | 602 | Mean values of VTT of 40%–50% of the sample’s average hourly wages, but sensitive to econometric specification | Frame limited to current car owners |
| Liu (2007) | Transport | China | Shanghai | Revealed & stated preference (actual mode choice & contingent valuation) | 2001 | 100 (useable sample of 91) | VTT estimates averaged 64% of in-sample wage rates for in-vehicle time and 82% of wages for out-of-vehicle time | No information on sampling strategy or representativeness |
| Walker et al. (2010) | Transport | China | Chengdu | Revealed & stated preference (actual mode choice & contingentvaluation) | 2005 | 532 commute trip choices from 1,001 sampled households | Average VTT 7.8–12.9 yuan per hour, 51%–86% of city-wide average income | |
| Jeuland et al. (2010) | Health | Mozambique | Beira | Revealed preference (travel cost) | 2005 | 1300 | Estimated the VTT 18%–46% of the median hourly wage in sample | Household travel cost model of decision to participate in a vaccine trial; did not distinguish between utility of traveling and queuing |
| Kremer et al. (2011) | Water supply | Kenya | Rural | Stated preference (double-bounded, dichotomous choice contingent valuation) | 2005 | 104 | $0.09 per 8-hour day; 7% of unskilled or casual labor wage rate | Willingness to pay for protected springs asked as separate exercise from “willingness to walk.” VTT as ratio of these two (n D 104); estimate reported is for an out of sample prediction to other study participants |
| Larson et al. (2016) | Labor market choices | Botswana | Rural | Stated preference (contingent behavior) | 2007 | 499 households in 13 villages | VTT varies by job characteristics but average BWP 8–12 per day for men, 17–21 for women | Willingness to accept wildlife conservation jobs; job type, daily wage, number of days worked per month, and job duration varied. Model allowing VTT to vary with money income, time available, wage offered and days worked fit data better than constant VTT parameter |
| Wondemu (2016) | Waiting for public services | South Africa, Nigeria, Ethiopia | Johannesburg, Addis Ababa, Lagos | Stated preference (open-ended max WTP) | 2011 | 1,296 in total | 69%, 66%, and 74% of city-wide average wage rate in Addis Ababa, Jo’burg and Lagos, respectively | Surveyed only those currently employed; little detail on survey sampling frame |
| Cook et al. (2016a,b) | Water supply | Kenya | Rural (Meru) | Stated preference (discrete choice experiment, RPL and latent class) | 2013 | 387 in four “sublocations” | 50% of the household’s wage rate but heterogeneity | Among households without private piped connections |