Willingness to pay for improved sanitation services in Cambodia: CVM and CM applications

This research was conducted to examine the rural people's Willingness to Pay (WTP) and factors affecting their choices for improved sanitation services in Cambodia. The most preferences of latrine attributes and Marginal Willingness to Pay (MWTP) for each latrine attribute were also determined in this study. The specific methodological approaches employed were Contingent Valuation Method (CVM) and Choice Modeling (CM) techniques which are used to evaluate non-market good by eliciting people's state preferences for different options in a hypothetical setting. The economic valuation in this study also involves people's WTP which is identified as the maximum amount value of money that an individual contributed to equalize utility. Our analysis shows how it can yield invaluable information regarding rural people's demands that can uniquely assists Cambodian policy makers, particularly government, development partners and local enterprises in developing new domestic latrine production, pricing and marketing strategies.