Consumer Demand and Welfare under Increasing Block Pricing

This paper argues that an increasing block pricing structure needs to be supplemented by allowances for household size and composition to be equitable. Household behaviour is modelled as the outcome of a two-stage budgeting resulting in an integrable water demand model. The welfare effects of block pricing are studied using the concept of relative equivalence scale, modified to allow for the dependence of price on household size and composition. We use individual household data to estimate residential demand for water, provide empirical illustration of the welfare effects of increasing block pricing on demographically different households and show how these effects can be compensated.relative equivalence scales, price endogeneity, demand for water

Consumer Welfare for Publicly Supplemented Private Goods: Age and Income Effects on Demand for Health Care

In spite major advances in the theoretical, positive and normative, literature analysing the welfare implications of public provision of private goods, empirical investigation is often limited to contingent valuation studies, mainly for environmental goods. In this paper we argue that when a market for a (subsidised or free of charge) publicly provided good exists, a consumer demand approach can be used to construct a money metric of welfare corresponding to the consumption of public provision. We illustrate this approach in investigating age and income effects on household demand for health care in Cyprus, where free public provision is not universal and those entitled to it often resort to private supplementation. Our findings suggest that the money metric of welfare, which consumers attach to free or subsidised access to publicly provided health care, varies substantially with age and to a lesser extent with household income.public provision, demand analysis, consumer welfare

House Prices and School Quality: The Impact of Score and Non-score Components of Contextual Value-Added

This paper investigates how the newly introduced Contextual Value Added (CVA) indicator of school quality affects house prices in the catchment area of primary and secondary schools in England. The empirical analysis, based on the data drawn from three independent and previously unexplored UK data sources, shows that the score component of CVA has a strong positive effect on house prices at both primary and secondary levels of education; while the non-score component of this school quality indicator has a significant (negative) effect only in the analysis of secondary school data. Nevertheless, the effect of CVA and its score and non-score components on house prices also varies with the level of spatial aggregation at which empirical investigation is pursued, assuming a more positive role between rather than within Local Authorities (Las). This reflects the emphasis placed by CVA on public good aspects of school quality and suggests that LA policies aimed at raising the average non-score quality characteristics of school conform to household preferences.School quality, hedonic regression, house prices

Intermediaries as Quality Assessors in Markets with Asymmetric

. Intermediaries often arise in order to facilitate trade in markets characterized by asymmetric information. In this paper we study the intermediary role of tour operators in the market for package tourism. Policymakers have tried to address information asymmetries in this market by providing hotel ratings. We show that those ratings are not accurate indicators of quality and that tour operators play a vital role by pooling together information about different holiday destinations and providing their own ratings of accommodations. We also find that significant price variation exists across countries, and that some countries systematically under- or over-rate their hotels.intermediaries, middlemen, asymmetric information, tourism industry.

Nesting Quadratic Logarithmic Demand Systems

We propose a new generalised rank-3 demand system which nests all known (and new) rank-3 and rank-2 demand systems derived from the Quadratic Logarithmic (QL) cost function. We investigate its statistical adequacy against commonly en-countered alternatives using U.K. household data.quadratic Logarithmic demand systems, rank-3 demand systems, individual household data.

A Consumer Demand Approach to Estimating the Education Quality Component of Housing Cost

A consumer demand-based approach is proposed for estimating the shadow price of education relative to housing for households with children in state schools. This approach can be used together with or in place of a hedonic approach in countries where the location of households is not disclosed in publicly available data. An empirical illustration is provided using UK data from the family expenditure surveys.Consumer demand, hedonic analysis, school quality

Votes or Money? Theory and Evidence from the US Congress.

We consider the effects of demographic and expenditure variables on consumer demand in a system of Engel curves using a smooth coefficient semiparametric model where the expenditure effects on the budget shares vary nonparametrically with demographic variables such as the age of head and number of children in the household. Our findings, based on UK micro data, suggest that with a smooth coefficient semiparametric model there is no need for nonlinear logarithmic expenditure effects in the budget shares. Furthermore, we find evidence of a trade-off between demographic and expenditure effects in Engel curves and that a rank-2 system of Engel curves where the logarithmic expenditure effects are allowed to vary with demographic characteristics either nonparametrically or as a third degree polynomial function cannot be rejected against a rank-3 (quadratic logarithmic) model. The implications on household behaviour and welfare are also examined.Preference Heterogeneity, Rank Test, Demand Systems

Household Demand and Welfare Implications of Water Pricing in Cyprus

This paper considers a model of household demand for water in a theoretical framework consistent with funtamendal principles of comsumer behaviour. It applies this model to individual household data to estimate the price and income elasticities of residential demand for water in Cyprus and evaluate the welfare effects associated with changes in the water pricing system. We &nd that the current regionally heterogeneous increasing block pricing system in the island introduces gross price distortions that are not justi&ed either on efficiency or equity grounds. A shift towards uniform marginal cost pricing will eliminate the deadweight loss of the current system. However, its bene&ts will be distributed in favour of the better off households. Overall, price can be an effective tool for residential water demand management, however, it may also lead to socially undesirable distributional effects on households

Household Demand and Welfare Implications of Water Pricing in Cyprus

This paper considers a model of household demand for water in a theoretical framework consistent with funtamendal principles of comsumer behaviour. It applies this model to individual household data to estimate the price and income elasticities of residential demand for water in Cyprus and evaluate the welfare effects associated with changes in the water pricing system. We &nd that the current regionally heterogeneous increasing block pricing system in the island introduces gross price distortions that are not justi&ed either on efficiency or equity grounds. A shift towards uniform marginal cost pricing will eliminate the deadweight loss of the current system. However, its bene&ts will be distributed in favour of the better off households. Overall, price can be an effective tool for residential water demand management, however, it may also lead to socially undesirable distributional effects on households

The Economics of Water Management in Developing Countries Problems, Principles and Policies

The increasing scarcity of water resources (in terms of quantity and quality) is one of the most pervasive natural resource allocation issues facing development planners throughout the world.This problem is especially prevalent in less developed countries where the management of this valuable resource has become a critical policy concern.This authoritative new volume outlines the fundamental principles and difficulties that characterise this challenging task. The authors begin by detailing the significant problems of water management which are specific to developing countries. In particular, they highlight the political economy of water management in the context of both pricing and institutional reform. Five case studies from a variety of developing countries extend these themes and examine other important issues such as water markets, irrigation and the measurement of groundwater scarcity. Finally, using Cyprus as an example, the authors demonstrate the manner in which improved water management policies can be implemented in a developing country.This final part serves to illustrate the policy solutions to the problems laid out in earlier chapters