Browsing by Author "Mekonnen, Alemu (Dr)"

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    Analysis of the Determinants of Households' Willingness to Pay and Demand for Improved Water Services.: A Contingent Valuation Study in Harar Town (Ethiopia)
    (A.A.U, 1999-05) Bekele, Genanew; Mekonnen, Alemu (Dr)
    In developing countries, Millions of people are facing daily problems In obtaining water for domestic purposes. recognizing the harm to health economic productivity, And quality of living standard tat can result from inadequate water supplies, governments have been establishing policy and planning to correct the problem. the implementation of such policy decisions should focus on demand sides opposed to the traditional focus on supply side, Pricing mechanisms and regulatory measures that have received much less attention. since need to fill the gap of information on the demand side (Such as household socioeconomic and demographic characteristics and characteristics of the existing and new supplies of water) for policy purpose is timely, researching the demand side in order to understand the household improved water demand behavior and what factors determine their willingness to pay verses their affordability for upgraded water service is crutial. this article, Therefore, Tries to asses the determinants of households willingness to pay and demand for improved water services in harar town which will enable policy makers to design an appropriate water pricing structure and viable cost recovery policies lature of the primary cross-sectional data that we got from our contingent valuation survey in the town, this study used only the direct method to estimate households' willingness to pay for ordered probit models. the study shows that the methodology produced some Illuminating Insights Into the relevant information on household willingness to pay, Which is shown to vary significantly according to household level of income, education level and sex of the household head, Starting point of the bidding game, location of study site, main source o water for the household and perceived quality of the existing water. the study also reveals that the mean willingness to pay (Wtp) for private piped improved water connection is more than 15 times the exiting authority's tariff rate. the tariffs for improved water can be increased substantially with unconstrained supply before insignificant numbers of households would choose not to connect to an improved system. The revenue and households' Welfare gains in changing the existing policy (Low tariff with few unreliable private service) to a new policy (Higher tariff with more and Improved private connections) can be huge .
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    Household's Willingness to Pay for Solid Waste Management Options: The Case of Yekka Sub - City, Addis Abaha, Ethiopia
    (A.A.U, 2007-07) Tarfasa, Solomon; Mekonnen, Alemu (Dr)
    A major implication of the pattern of urbanization and rapid population growth in developing countries, like Ethiopia, is expanding adequate infrastructures, waste management service being one of them. However, it seems that this has not been the case in developing countries in general and in Ethiopia in particular. There is a range of solid waste problems, including inadequate waste collection systems, open dumping and other forms of improper final disposal resulting in environmental pollution. The primary objective of this study is to conduct an economic study on demand for municipal solid waste management (SWM) improvements in Yekka-sub city, Addis Ababa, so that the adverse effects of the solid waste in terms of economic, health and environmental impacts may be minimized. In this study an environmental valuation technique - Choice modeling (CM) was employed on 242 randomly selected urban households in Yekka-sub city to estimate the economic values of household's preferences for improved solid waste management service. This study has obtained estimates of marginal values of improved SWM service attributes and households' WTP for improved MSW management services. Households on average are willing to pay an additional charge of Birr 12.95 per month for a change in collection frequency form once per week to twice per week or from twice per week to thrice, cleric paribus, and that households' net benefit per unit of waste is higher when there is sorting Conspired with the situation when there is no sorting since they pay less per unit of total waste ((i. e. both the recyclable and the non-recyclable solid waste) when there is sorting relative to what they pay for total waste when there is no sorting, ceteris paribus. In conclusion, households are willing to pay a positive amount of 1110ncy for solid waste management service, which implies that any policy to bring about efficient solid waste management service in an area needs to include the demand side information should it yield the needed environmental impacts while yielding the needed environmental impacts.
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    Unemployment and the Role of Employment Services: an Economic Valuation of Employment Service
    (A.A.U, 2000-05) Yilma, Tewodros; Mekonnen, Alemu (Dr)
    The issue of unemployment and the operation of the labour market is a very central issue to the modern economy, both in the developed and the developing world. The operation of this market is a fascinating and complicated process. Workers differ in their abilities, attitudes, and tastes. Productivity depends not only on abilities but also on how well a worker is matched to a job. The question of unemployment is tied to the social, political and economic atmosphere in every country. It is an issue to the individual, to the firms and to the government as well. As a result studies on the causes, effect and remedies to unemployment problems have captured the attention of all these agents. The mam cause of unemployment according to most studies is the high rate of population growth coupled with low level of economic growth which is manifested by the slow pace of job creation by the economy. The educational system as a major supplier of the labour force is also an important area related with the problems of unemployment. The existing educational system not only supplies the economy a labour force that far exceeds in number the available jobs but also a labour force which invariably does not fit the existing jobs and vacancies. The problem of unemployment is also related to the functioning of the labor market, which in large part is the concern of this paper. The existence of an adequately functioning labor market which sends the relevant signals to help adjust the mismatch between existing skills and the skills needed by the economic and. highlight£ the gap . between unfilled and filled vacancies is of paramount importance to the Issue of unemployment. Available evidence indicates that many vacancies remain unfilled despite the existence of a large unemployed labor force. Information found from MoLSA showed that over 23% of vacancies remained unfilled. The existence. of the considerable unfilled vacancies in the midst of a large unemployed labor force depicts the failure of the labor market. In this regard employment services can play a crucial role by addressing the information and skill gaps as they are centers for collection, compilations and dissemination of labor market information. In evaluating the employment agencies unfortunately most of them are not adequately staffed and the necessary equipment are often scarce. As a result of this coupled with a poor policy environment, legal framework and economic incentives most employment agencies are not in a position to provide a commendable service and hardly provide the expected level and quality of services The present study which examines the willingness of job seekers to pay for such services, will contribute in drawing attention of the policy makers and the public at large and facilitate the realization of the potential roles of employment service to play their part in addressing unemployment problems. It also contribute for the elucidation of economic grounds on the ongomg dialogue related to how and by whom employment service should be provided. In the present study an attempt has been made to economically value the role of employment services. The study has confirmed that the job seekers attach considerable value to employment services and are willing to pay for a placement service rendered by employment agencies. The study has shown that in Addis Ababa Administrative region alone the placement services of employment agencies has an economic value worth over 18 million Birr per annum. This estimate considers only the value attached by unemployed job seekers to placement services alone and represents a very small portion of the service, that employment agencies are expected to be perform.
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    The Value of An Improvement to Lake Chamo to the Fishermen of the Lake
    (A.A.U, 2005-06) Tagesse, Tsegaye; Mekonnen, Alemu (Dr)
    Water quality is a major factor that affects fish and thus an improvement to Lake Chamo would benefit. Fishermen of the lake directly. An improvement proposed in this study is improving the quality of the lake one step from how the fishermen of the lake perceived existing water quality and maintaining the current depth of the lake. To elicil the willingness 10 pay (WTP) of the fishermen to this improvement the study used CVM by applying the double-bounded dichotomous choice value elicitation format. The results suggest that the probability (jl saying yes .for a given bid increases with the education level of the respondent, income of the household, and it also increases if Lake Chamo is the only lake for the respondent to catch fish. On the other hand this probability declines as the perception of the respondent goes from bad 10 excellent. In addition, this probability decreases if the respondent is member to Arbaminch fishermen association and the reason for this inverse relationship between the probability of yes response and membership 10 the association may be due to the payment vehicle, i. e, since the registered .fishermen have already been paying taxes, they may not be willing to pay additional taxes. The average W7P obtained in the study is 4.63 birr per month. Key words: Water quality, CVM, lake Chamo, Ethiopia, .fishermen.
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    Valuing Non-agricultural Uses of Irrigation Water: Empirical Evidence from the Blue Nile River-basin of the Amhara Regional State, Ethiopia
    (A.A.U, 2005-06) Bane, Jonse; Mekonnen, Alemu (Dr)
    Using the contingent valuation method (CVM), the study sets out to analyze detemtints of households WIP, estimate total WIP of and derive aggregate demand for non-crop uses of irrigation water. the study used cross-sectional data corrected from 260 housefiolds in the Blue Nife River Basin of the Amhara Regional State of Ethiopia through double-bounded value elicitation format with open-ended follow up questions under detailed descriptions of two different scenarios, namely, existing and improved irrigation water supply for domestic uses. 'The empirical models adopted by this study are profit and vibrate profit models. Results of the the study reveal that respondents ' WIP is affected by a number of explanatory variables including institution-related variables such as water users associations (WUAS) water father and commtmity-based water management and choices of these institutions, and socio-economic variables like income, wealth, ownership of ox, age, education and family size of respondents. Although females are responsible to fetch water for domestic uses, being a female has no significant effect on the probability of accepting the proposed did. Specific location of users, site, quantity and quality of irrigation water for domestic uses are other explanatory variables that affect consumers ' WIP for non-crop uses of irrigation water. the study also finds that using double-60unded value elicitation techniques does not improve statistical efficiency over sing{e- bounded format. Total WIP for gardenil1iJ and domestic use of irrigation water is estimated 6ased on open-ended and single- 60unded value felicitation formats and our scenarios. Assuming existing irrigation water quality, total WIP for these uses of irrigation water is 'Birr 291, 776 and 363,063.6 per year using open-ended and single-bounded mean WIP, respectively. After proposing quality improvement for domestic uses o/irrigation water but with existing quality for gardening, the respective total WIP increases to 'Birr 361,336 and 409,441.6 per annum. the following policy implications are derived from the study. :First, facilitating establishment and strengthening capacity of WLLAS through decentralization could improve efficient and eqttita6Ce uses of irrigation water. Second, since households are willing to pay for multiple uses of irrigation water, introducing pricing in irrigation water uses may be promising. Finally, considering multiple uses of irrigation water in developing and implementing irrigation water projects ensures sustainability and reduces conflicts among uses and users of irrigation water.