SOME MEASUREMENT CRITERIA FOR COMMUNITY SERVICE OUTPUT AND COSTS: THE CASE OF FIRE PROTECTION IN TEXAS

Public Economics,

Using stated preferences to estimate the environmental benefits of using biodiesel fuel in diesel engines

Using biodiesel fuel to reduce emissions from diesel engines is an area of increasing interest. Many environmental benefits associated with biodiesel are not traded in markets and their estimation requires economic valuation methods applied to non-market goods and services. This paper presents the results of a contingent valuation survey conducted in 2006 in two Ohio regions to estimate willingness to pay for air pollution reduction arising from using biodiesel fuel in diesel engines. The double bounded parametric formulation was used to estimate mean WTP ranging from $157 to$457. These results yield estimated aggregate benefits ranging from $123 to$429 million and can be used as a starting point for cost-benefit analysis.Biodiesel, diesel, air pollution, environmental benefits, contingent valuation, willingness to pay, double bounded model, Environmental Economics and Policy, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, I18, L91, Q42, Q51, Q53,

AGRICULTURAL SEDIMENTATION IMPACTS ON LAKESIDE PROPERTY VALUES

A hedonic pricing model is developed to estimate the effects of policies to control agricultural sedimentation on lakeside property values at 15 Ohio state park lakes, Using an LA/AIDS demand system, we estimate changes in social welfare that result from upstream soil conservation practices and/or lake dredging activity, while holding other property characteristics constant. Policy simulation results suggest that lakeside residents generally have a higher willingness to pay on an annualized basis for sediment reduction from upstream soil conservation than for lake dredging. This has important implications for soil conservation policy, particularly in targeting improvements in the economic efficiency of the Conservation Reserve Program.Land Economics/Use,

An Economic Analysis of Consumer Expenditures for Safe Drinking Water: Addressing Nitrogen Risk with an Averting Cost Approach

This article presents a procedure for estimating averting expenditures through the analyses of two data sources: (1) packaged water sales from 18 national supermarket chain stores in the Columbus, Ohio Metropolitan Area (COMA); and (2) treatment expenditures for both high and low service water from a local drinking water treatment facility owned and operated by the Columbus, Ohio municipality. The averting behavior results from a nitrogen advisory for drinking water for 1/3 of the COMA. The study concentrates on estimating these averting expenditures as representative of averting behavior for a market and non-market good trade-off. This article concentrates on the economic consequences of the nitrogen pollution problem as it affects households through the water they drink. It measures the private and public averting for the remedies available to address this problem. Major findings are that consumers make significant expenditures on packaged water both inside and outside the nitrogen advisory area and the municipality also makes considerable averting expenditures. The results represent an averting behavior effect emanating through an area having experienced recent and historic nitrogen advisory events with significant implications for government and industrial strategies for identification and prevention of nitrogen contamination incidents.Averting Cost, Nitrogen Risk, Safe Drinking Water., Consumer/Household Economics,

BENEFIT CAPTURE: EVIDENCE FROM A RIVER CORRIDOR BENEFIT COST EVALUATION

The concept of and evidence for benefit capture are explored in a benefit cost analysis of selected water quality and infrastructure improvements in the Muskingum River corridor of South Eastern Ohio. Property tax revenues and CVM bid functions are estimated and implications for benefit capture and further research are developed.Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Willingness to Pay for Biodiesel in Diesel Engines: A Stochastic Double Bounded Contingent Valuation Survey

The double bounded dichotomous choice format has been proven to improve efficiency in contingent valuation models. However, this format has been criticized due to lack of behavioral and statistical consistencies between the first and the second responses. In this study a split sampling methodology was used to determine whether allowing respondents to express uncertainty in the follow-up question would alleviate such inconsistencies. Results indicate that allowing respondents to express uncertainty in the follow-up question was effective at reducing both types of inconsistencies while efficiency gain is maintained.Biodiesel, diesel, environmental benefits, contingent valuation, willingness to pay, double bounded model, and statistical and behavioral inconsistencies, Demand and Price Analysis, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, I18, L91, Q42, Q51, Q53,

Environmental Injustice: An Ohio Case Study

Valuation of environmental regulations and policy changes is usually focused on the achievement of economic efficiency or potential Pareto improvement (PPI): a proposed change or policy is accepted if those who gain from carrying out a specific project or policy could, in principle, compensate those who lose from implementing that policy so no one is worse off. Aggregate measures of value such as aggregate willingness to pay are common measures of economic efficiency. However, in reality, compensations by the gainers to the losers of a policy seldom take place and the disadvantaged must bear most if not all the cost of the adverse effects of the policy change or environmental degradation. Furthermore, willingness to pay is largely dependent on the ability to pay and as such, environmental resources are not shifted to those who only value them the most, but to those who value and can afford them as well. This article focuses on studying the distributional impacts of river contamination and clean up including stated preference evaluation of environmental improvements. Particularly, the issue of concern is whether poor and minority households in the study area have been unjustly exposed to contamination in the river; and therefore, whether the application of different weighting schemes to the benefits (costs) of different demographic groups (especially, minority and low-income) would be justified