The Non-market Value of the Swedish Agricultural Landscape.

The contingent valuation method has been used to estimate the Swedes' willingness-to-pay to preserve the agricultural landscape. They seem willing to pay about 541 SEK/person [each] year (78 ECU) or 975 SEK/hectare [each] year (140 ECU) (May 1986). The results are judged to be reliable but with a low degree of precision. It is shown that willingness to pay is significantly correlated to income, age (negatively), level of education, and to positive attitudes towards preservation of the agricultural landscape. Willingness to pay per hectare differs due to land use and regional location. Subsidies based on acreage instead of price support may be an adequate political solution. Copyright 1992 by Oxford University Press.