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Determining social values for protecting coastal assets, including coastal parks, beaches and foreshores, is important because of potential losses with climate change impacts. In a case study application in Victoria, Australia, the travel cost method was applied to value the use of camping parks by visitors, and the choice modelling technique was applied to estimate willingness to pay (WTP) of visitors and residents to avoid future losses in foreshore campground access and beach width, through protection and adaptation efforts. While both visitors and residents had similar values for park and campsite, and beach protection, residents valued beach protection as more important whereas visitors placed greater importance in protecting parks and campsites. Visitor values were higher for sites and beaches closer to metropolitan Melbourne. These results provide government agencies and coastal managers with better information about protection values for low lying coastal assets and will enable more informed decisions to be made about investing in coastal protection and the management of specific resources in the face of sea level rise and climate threats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Industry faces increasing problems in dealing with waste products resulting from production processes. One specific problem is that of waste-water, where the management of production process waste often imposes costs, not only to the firm, but also to society. This article addresses the management of industry waste-water, from the perspective of both the individual firm and society in general, by analysing a case study of a dairy factory. Construction costs of horizontal subsurface flow wetlands of a sufficient size to treat a dairy factory’s process waste-waters are estimated. Short-term profitability objectives do not prompt project development, however, over the long term, some of the project options modelled reveal both a net private benefit and a net social benefit. In the absence of estimated externalities, projects become viable after 11 years (2 per cent discount rate), and 16 years (7 per cent discount rate). Without some form of environmental policy, no project options will be considered because of the company’s four-year return on investment rule. This highlights the policy dilemma associated with sharing the burden of the costs of improved environmental outcomes between the private and public sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper reports on the development of an asynchronous learning environment for the teaching of introductory macroeconomics to approximately 200 distance education students. The research supports evidence in the current literature that computer mediated communication and in particular, collaborative learning, can make a positive difference to the educational experience of some students. These findings are based on both quantitative and qualitative data gained from student evaluations, participation levels, staff interviews and an analysis of the online communication. The discussion centres on the extent of collaboration, the role of assessment, adaptation of curriculum and pedagogy and the students’ attitudes to economics. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]