

@mastersthesis {6195,
	title = {The quick, the cheap and the dirty: {Benefit} transfer approaches to the non-market valuation of coastal water quality in {Costa} {Rica}},
	year = {2000},
	note = {C813663},
	school = {Norges Landbrukshogskole (Norway)},
	type = {phdDr.{Scient}.},
	address = {Ann Arbor},
	abstract = {This collection of five papers provides an extensive methodological review and validity tests of benefit transfer approaches{\textendash}a collection of techniques for extrapolating non-market valuation estimates from an existing study site to a new policy context. Empirical issues are evaluated through several contingent valuation surveys of the benefits of wastewater treatment to visitors and households along the Pacific coast of Costa Rica. The studies illustrate how statistical and econometric model assumptions affect WTP estimates, how they can potentially result in large benefit transfer errors, which in turn can lead to mistaken policy conclusions. The studies are a contribution to the scarce case literature on non-market valuation in developing countries. Several empirical findings are noteworthy. The common statistical tests of benefit transfers{\textquoteright} reliability generally require much greater accuracy than needed by policy makers for screening and prioritising development projects. Benefit transfer errors are generally smaller in magnitude than the sensitivity of WTP to data treatment and econometric assumptions. The benefit transfer experiments conducted here show that more complex benefit functions are on average not expected to reduce transfer error. However, transferring WTP for avoiding pollution-related illness episodes between Portugal and Costa Rica is more reliable than transferring epidemiological exposure-risk estimates. Furthermore, benefit transfer errors between the Costa Rican study and policy sites are comparable to typical prediction errors in financial cost analysis of wastewater treatment projects. Nonetheless, benefit transfer experiments which try to minimise transfer error through studying as similar sites as possible are deemed unproductive. Exper{\'\i}ments which emphasise and control for differences will be more policy-relevant. Amongst others, a meta-analysis finds that willingness-to-pay (WTP) for wastewater treatment is significantly correlated with household income across developing country studies. However, simple transfer-adjustment factors such as GNP/capita are {\textquoteright}black box{\textquoteright} approaches which take no account of local socio-demographic or environmental variation. Understanding local study context is duly emphasised. Attributes of the pollution-mitigating policy described in the contingent valuation scenario are shown to have external effects of their own. For example, institutional transaction costs and local environment externalities are significantly correlated with household WTP. An effort is made throughout to provide pracitioners and policy-makers with a framework and proceedures for evaluating study information, including how cost-effective benefit estimates are in reducing policy uncertainty.},
	keywords = {0503:Agricultural economics, 0768:Environmental science, Agricultural economics, Benefit transfer, Coastal, Costa Rica, Environmental science, Health and environmental sciences, Nonmarket valuation, Social sciences, Valuation, Water quality},
	url = {http://search.proquest.com/docview/304679516?accountid=14270},
	author = {Barton, David Nicholas}
}
