- Title
- Economic efficiency and income distribution evaluation of toxics and dam removal using contingent valuation
- Author
- Abdul-Mohsen, Ashraf A
- Degree
- Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University,
Agricultural, Environmental & Development Economics, 2004.
- Advisor
- Fred J Hitzhusen
- Pages
- 157p.
- Abstract
- Contingent valuation (CV) has been used extensively to value non-marketed environmental resources and public policies. Despite its sound theoretical background as a direct measure of welfare change and its ability to measure nonuse values, the validity of CV hypothetical estimates of value is still under immense debate. Of equal importance is the issue of equity or income distribution impacts of environmental change and how to incorporate equity into public policy analysis without sacrificing economic efficiency. This dissertation focuses on studying the theoretical validity of dichotomous choice CV as well as the distributional effects of river contamination and clean up including stated preference evaluation of environmental improvements. The study case is restoring the Lower Mahoning River in Northeast Ohio through dredging of toxics and/or selected dam removal. First, theoretical validity of the CV estimates is examined through the use of split sampling to test for scope, sequence, and context effects. Then, comparisons among different treatments are conducted using both the likelihood ratio test and the difference in median WTP t-Test. Results indicate that WTP is insensitive to the scope of the proposed restoration project in the whole sample. However, scope effects are significant among past users of the river. Additionally, there is mixed evidence of order and context effects. It is concluded that sensitivity to scope in contingent valuation could be dependent on the type of the public good being valued (e.g., scope versus scale valuation) and on the characteristics of the individuals being surveyed especially with respect to familiarity with the resource in question. Second, income distribution impacts of river contamination and clean up are examined through stratification of the sample using income and location of the household as a proxy for race. Results show that poor people and minorities in urban districts along the Mahoning River might have been unjustly exposed to contamination in the river. Traditional BC analysis, in which marginal utility of income is constant across all groups in the society, would in turn underestimate the value of Mahoning River restoration projects to the disadvantaged, and thus render the project(s) less economically appealing to decision makers.
- Keywords
- Contingent Valuation; Scope, Sequence and Context Effects; Environmental Equity; Toxics and Dam Removal
Document number: osu1104004257.
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