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Testing structural benefit transfer: The role of income inequality

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  • Meya, Jasper N.
  • Drupp, Moritz A.
  • Hanley, Nick

Abstract

How the valuation of environmental goods is related to income is a key question for economics, but the role of income inequality is often neglected. We study how income inequality affects the international transfer of the estimated value of environmental goods from a study to a policy site—a practice called value or benefit transfer. Specifically, we apply theory-driven, structural transfer factors to test whether adjusting for income inequality affects errors made in benefit transfer, drawing on a multi-country valuation study on water quality improvement. Our convergent validity analysis shows that the structural income inequality adjustment reduces benefit transfer errors by between 1.5 and 1.8 percentage points on average across all transfers. We therefore find that adjusting for income inequality offers only a minor improvement of benefit transfers as compared to adjusting for differences in mean income. Overall, our results shed light on the potential of structural approaches to benefit transfer for environmental valuation and public policy appraisal.

Suggested Citation

  • Meya, Jasper N. & Drupp, Moritz A. & Hanley, Nick, 2021. "Testing structural benefit transfer: The role of income inequality," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:resene:v:64:y:2021:i:c:s0928765521000026
    DOI: 10.1016/j.reseneeco.2021.101217
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    Cited by:

    1. Brown, Zachary Steven, 2022. "Distributional policy impacts, WTP-WTA disparities, and the Kaldor-Hicks tests in benefit-cost analysis," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 113(C).
    2. Victor Champonnois & Olivier Chanel, 2023. "Accounting for subsistence needs in non-market valuation: a simple proposal," Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 66(5), pages 1037-1060, April.
    3. Tariq Aziz & Alain-Désiré Nimubona & Philippe Van Cappellen, 2023. "Comparative Valuation of Three Ecosystem Services in a Canadian Watershed Using Global, Regional, and Local Unit Values," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(14), pages 1-17, July.
    4. Robert J. Johnston & Kevin J. Boyle & Maria L. Loureiro & Ståle Navrud & John Rolfe, 2021. "Guidance to Enhance the Validity and Credibility of Environmental Benefit Transfers," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 79(3), pages 575-624, July.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Structural benefit transfer; Environmental valuation; Income inequality; Transfer error; Income elasticity; Willingness-to-pay;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Q51 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Valuation of Environmental Effects
    • H43 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - Project Evaluation; Social Discount Rate
    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
    • D61 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Allocative Efficiency; Cost-Benefit Analysis
    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
    • Q53 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Air Pollution; Water Pollution; Noise; Hazardous Waste; Solid Waste; Recycling
    • Q25 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Renewable Resources and Conservation - - - Water

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