Valuation of non-market goods in a Democratic regime.

Investigating the Willingness to Participate within a Low-

Opportunity-Cost Target Population in Historic Monuments
Preservation.
OdysseasKopsidas1, Leonidas Fragkos -Livanios2 and StamatisAggelopoulos3

1 ,3 Department of Agricultural Technology, Alexander Technological Educational Institute

of Thessaloniki,17th Km Thessaloniki-Sindos, 57400, Thessaloniki, Greece, e-mail:
odykopsi@yahoo.gr

2 Division of Natural Sciences and Applications, Hellenic Army Academy, 16673, Vari,
Attiki, Greece, e-mail: leonfragos@yahoo.co.uk

Abstract

The preservation of cultural heritage is entailing excessive cost (paid by people through
taxation) while is a source of additional income for both, the State and the people, due to
tourism. The evaluation of this type of goods cannot be made in market terms. We apply a
modified version of the Contingent Valuation Method (CVM), in order to investigate the
people’s estimation for this good and the willingness to participate at supporting activities
concerning the preservation of such antiquities. Further, people willingly participating in the
restoration of their environment, thus increasing the value of a public good –such as a site of
cultural significance- is a characteristic of democracy.
In this survey, 200 soldiers took part in order to determine whether they wished to
participate voluntarily in maintenance and beautification of an archeological site during their
military service. They were divided in two groups. The first group was informed about the
specific site and its historic value and then answered the questioner, while the second group
received a questionnaire without prior information. The second group was subsequently
divided into two subgroups, one left without information whatsoever and one that received an
information session after the completion of the questioner and then retook the questioner.
Willingness to participate (WTP) between the two groups was compared. Firstly, descriptive
statistics were applied to determine the profile of the sample. An analysis of variance by
means of ANOVA was performed to express WTP as a function of various factors such as
age and educational level. Paired Samples T - test of WTP before and after information was
performed. The data indicates that those who have been previously or subsequently informed
on the archaeological site and its significance were more willing to participate than those who
have not.

Key-Word: Democracy and Participation, ancient monument restoration, antiquities

conservation, Logit model, parametric approach, Probitmodel, willingness to participate (WTP).