The Korea Local Administration Review

The purpose of the study is to find policy preferences of citizen groups in the public services with increasing importance in South Korea. These public services include child care, traffic safety, air quality, and emergency medical service. To measure relative preferences of individuals in each public service, a survey of asking “willingness to pay(WTP)” was conducted. The WTP such measured has been analyzed using the “method of marginal effect after logit.” The analysis results show that the preferred public services of people depend on social groups’ demographic and socioeconomic characteristics to which they belong. The groups of high income, as well as younger age have relatively stronger demands for better public services. The WTP is obviously positively associated with the ability to pay and needs for better services. By contrast, the WTP is negatively correlated with citizens’ doubt on the government's policy commitment.

□ Keywords: public services, willingness to pay (WTP), marginal effect after logit, dichotomous choice with a follow-up.