Trade-Off Analysis of Preferences for Public Services

In: Environment and behavior: eb ; publ. in coop. with the Environmental Design Research Association, Volume 14, Issue 2, p. 238-258

Abstract

This article develops an approach to identifying preferences of residents for alternative strategies of service provision, given a limited budget for the supply of services. Using a game format, the approach requires residents to indicate the services they would improve and the services they would trade off given the available financial resources. The method is demonstrated for a rural municipality in sourthern Ontario, Canada. The results provide an indication of the way in which the residents would like to see their taxes apportioned for service provision and are analyzed for differences in constrained preferences within the community.