IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/waterr/v26y2012i8p2283-2299.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Estimating Residential Water Demand Using the Stone-Geary Functional Form: The Case of Sri Lanka

Author

Listed:
  • Dinusha Dharmaratna
  • Edwyna Harris

Abstract

This paper formulates a demand model for residential water in Sri Lanka using the Stone-Geary functional form. This functional form considers water consumption to be composed of two parts—a fixed and a residual component. The presence of these two components means it is possible to estimate a threshold below which water consumption is non-responsive to price changes. In turn, this can provide policy makers with a better understanding of the degree to which price changes will affect water consumption and the extent to which price instruments can be utilised to raise additional revenues. These revenues could then be used to extend pipe-borne water infrastructure to a greater proportion of the population than is currently the case. The findings presented here show the portion of water use that is insensitive to price changes in Sri Lanka is between 0.64 and 1.06 m 3 per capita per month. The results indicate that price elasticity ranges from -0.11 to -0.14 while income elasticity varies from 0.11 to 0.14. Combined, these findings suggest water authorities could raise revenue via price increases to fund critical infrastructure extension. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2012

Suggested Citation

  • Dinusha Dharmaratna & Edwyna Harris, 2012. "Estimating Residential Water Demand Using the Stone-Geary Functional Form: The Case of Sri Lanka," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 26(8), pages 2283-2299, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:waterr:v:26:y:2012:i:8:p:2283-2299
    DOI: 10.1007/s11269-012-0017-1
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s11269-012-0017-1
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11269-012-0017-1?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Garcia, Serge & Reynaud, Arnaud, 2004. "Estimating the benefits of efficient water pricing in France," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(1), pages 1-25, March.
    2. Henry S. Foster, Jr. & Bruce R. Beattie, 1981. "On the Specification of Price in Studies of Consumer Demand under Block Price Scheduling," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 57(4), pages 624-629.
    3. M. Babel & A. Gupta & P. Pradhan, 2007. "A multivariate econometric approach for domestic water demand modeling: An application to Kathmandu, Nepal," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 21(3), pages 573-589, March.
    4. S. Gaudin, 2006. "Effect of price information on residential water demand," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(4), pages 383-393.
    5. R. Bruce Billings, 1982. "Specification of Block Rate Price Variables in Demand Models," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 58(3), pages 386-394.
    6. Julie A. Hewitt & W. Michael Hanemann, 1995. "A Discrete/Continuous Choice Approach to Residential Water Demand under Block Rate Pricing," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 71(2), pages 173-192.
    7. Cristina C. David & Arlene B. Inocencio, 1998. "Understanding Household Demand for Water: The Metro Manila Case," EEPSEA Research Report rr1998012, Economy and Environment Program for Southeast Asia (EEPSEA), revised Jan 1998.
    8. Schleich, Joachim & Hillenbrand, Thomas, 2009. "Determinants of residential water demand in Germany," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(6), pages 1756-1769, April.
    9. Junying Chu & Can Wang & Jining Chen & Hao Wang, 2009. "Agent-Based Residential Water Use Behavior Simulation and Policy Implications: A Case-Study in Beijing City," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 23(15), pages 3267-3295, December.
    10. Valeria Di Cosmo, 2011. "Are the Consumers Always Ready to Pay? A Quasi-Almost Ideal Demand System for the Italian Water Sector," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 25(2), pages 465-481, January.
    11. R. Bruce Billings & Donald E. Agthe, 1980. "Price Elasticities for Water: A Case of Increasing Block Rates," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 56(1), pages 73-84.
    12. Henry S. Foster, Jr. & Bruce R. Beattie, 1979. "Urban Residential Demand for Water in the United States," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 55(1), pages 43-58.
    13. Im, K.S. & Pesaran, M.H., 2003. "On The Panel Unit Root Tests Using Nonlinear Instrumental Variables," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 0347, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
    14. Céline Nauges & Alban Thomas, 2000. "Privately Operated Water Utilities, Municipal Price Negotiation, and Estimation of Residential Water Demand: The Case of France," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 76(1), pages 68-85.
    15. Elizabeth Wentz & Patricia Gober, 2007. "Determinants of Small-Area Water Consumption for the City of Phoenix, Arizona," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 21(11), pages 1849-1863, November.
    16. Arbues, Fernando & Garcia-Valinas, Maria Angeles & Martinez-Espineira, Roberto, 2003. "Estimation of residential water demand: a state-of-the-art review," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 81-102, March.
    17. Roberto Martinez-Espineira & Celine Nauges, 2004. "Is all domestic water consumption sensitive to price control?," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(15), pages 1697-1703.
    18. Sylvestre Gaudin & Ronald C. Griffin & Robin C. Sickles, 2001. "Demand Specification for Municipal Water Management: Evaluation of the Stone-Geary Form," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 77(3), pages 399-422.
    19. Ruijs, Arjan, 2007. "Welfare and Distribution Effects of Water Pricing Policies," Natural Resources Management Working Papers 7441, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM).
    20. David L. Chicoine & Ganapathi Ramamurthy, 1986. "Evidence on the Specification of Price in the Study of Domestic Water Demand," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 62(1), pages 26-32.
    21. David Hensher & Nina Shore & Kenneth Train, 2005. "Households’ Willingness to Pay for Water Service Attributes," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 32(4), pages 509-531, December.
    22. Mary E. Renwick & Sandra O. Archibald, 1998. "Demand Side Management Policies for Residential Water Use: Who Bears the Conservation Burden?," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 74(3), pages 343-359.
    23. Ellen M. Pint, 1999. "Household Responses to Increased Water Rates during the California Drought," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 75(2), pages 246-266.
    24. Ada Jansen & Carl‐erik Schulz, 2006. "Water Demand And The Urban Poor: A Study Of The Factors Influencing Water Consumption Among Households In Cape Town, South Africa," South African Journal of Economics, Economic Society of South Africa, vol. 74(3), pages 593-609, September.
    25. Michael L. Nieswiadomy & David J. Molina, 1989. "Comparing Residential Water Demand Estimates under Decreasing and Increasing Block Rates Using Household Data," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 65(3), pages 280-289.
    26. John A. Nordin, 1976. "A Proposed Modification of Taylor's Demand Analysis: Comment," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 7(2), pages 719-721, Autumn.
    27. Lester D. Taylor, 1975. "The Demand for Electricity: A Survey," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 6(1), pages 74-110, Spring.
    28. Piet Rietveld & Jan Rouwendal & Bert Zwart, 2000. "Block Rate Pricing of Water in Indonesia: An Analysis of Welfare Effects," Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(3), pages 73-92.
    29. Arjan Ruijs, 2007. "Welfare and Distribution Effects of Water Pricing Policies," Working Papers 2007.92, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.
    30. Montserrat Núñez & Jordi Oliver-Solà & Joan Rieradevall & Xavier Gabarrell, 2010. "Water Management in Integrated Service Systems: Accounting for Water Flows in Urban Areas," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 24(8), pages 1583-1604, June.
    31. Levin, Andrew & Lin, Chien-Fu & James Chu, Chia-Shang, 2002. "Unit root tests in panel data: asymptotic and finite-sample properties," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 108(1), pages 1-24, May.
    32. Badi H. Baltagi & Chihwa Kao, 2000. "Nonstationary Panels, Cointegration in Panels and Dynamic Panels: A Survey," Center for Policy Research Working Papers 16, Center for Policy Research, Maxwell School, Syracuse University.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Roberto Balado-Naves & Marian Garcia-Valiñas & David Roibas, 2023. "Efficiency, perceived prices, and household water demand: A stochastic frontier analysis for the Spanish city of Gijón," Working Papers hal-04147781, HAL.
    2. Hung, Ming-Feng & Huang, Tai-Hsin, 2015. "Dynamic demand for residential electricity in Taiwan under seasonality and increasing-block pricing," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 168-177.
    3. David Roibas & Maria A. Garcia-Valiñas & Roberto Fernandez-Llera, 2019. "Measuring the Impact of Water Supply Interruptions on Household Welfare," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 73(1), pages 159-179, May.
    4. Eri Nakamura & Fumitoshi Mizutani, 2019. "Necessary demand and extra demand of public utility product: identification using the stochastic frontier model," Economia e Politica Industriale: Journal of Industrial and Business Economics, Springer;Associazione Amici di Economia e Politica Industriale, vol. 46(1), pages 45-64, March.
    5. Xiao-Chen Yuan & Yi-Ming Wei & Su-Yan Pan & Ju-Liang Jin, 2014. "Urban Household Water Demand in Beijing by 2020: An Agent-Based Model," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 28(10), pages 2967-2980, August.
    6. Hung, Ming-Feng & Chie, Bin-Tzong, 2017. "The long-run performance of increasing-block pricing in Taiwan's residential electricity sector," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 782-793.
    7. María Ángeles García-Valiñas & Sara Suárez-Fernández, 2022. "Are Economic Tools Useful to Manage Residential Water Demand? A Review of Old Issues and Emerging Topics," Post-Print hal-04067487, HAL.
    8. Xunzhou Ma & Shiqiu Zhang & Quan Mu, 2014. "How Do Residents Respond to Price under Increasing Block Tariffs? Evidence from Experiments in Urban Residential Water Demand in Beijing," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 28(14), pages 4895-4909, November.
    9. Mónica Maldonado-Devis & Vicent Almenar-Llongo, 2021. "A Panel Data Estimation of Domestic Water Demand with IRT Tariff Structure: The Case of the City of Valencia (Spain)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-26, January.
    10. Minh Ha-Duong & Nguyen Son, 2021. "Subjective satisfaction and objective electricity poverty reduction in Vietnam, 2008-2018," Post-Print hal-03160911, HAL.
    11. Ming-Feng Hung & Bin-Tzong Chie, 2013. "Residential Water Use: Efficiency, Affordability, and Price Elasticity," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 27(1), pages 275-291, January.
    12. Diego Maria André & José Carvalho, 2014. "Spatial Determinants of Urban Residential Water Demand in Fortaleza, Brazil," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 28(9), pages 2401-2414, July.
    13. Meran Georg & von Hirschhausen Christian, 2017. "Increasing Block Tariffs in the Water Sector – An Interpretation in Terms of Social Preferences," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 17(3), pages 1-24, July.
    14. Qinghua Zhang & Yanfang Diao & Jie Dong, 2013. "Regional Water Demand Prediction and Analysis Based on Cobb-Douglas Model," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 27(8), pages 3103-3113, June.
    15. Ming-Feng Hung & Bin-Tzong Chie & Tai-Hsin Huang, 2017. "Residential water demand and water waste in Taiwan," Environmental Economics and Policy Studies, Springer;Society for Environmental Economics and Policy Studies - SEEPS, vol. 19(2), pages 249-268, April.
    16. Jia, Jun-Jun & Guo, Jin & Wei, Chu, 2021. "Elasticities of residential electricity demand in China under increasing-block pricing constraint: New estimation using household survey data," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 156(C).
    17. Renzetti, Steven & Dupont, Diane P. & Chitsinde, Tina, 2015. "An empirical examination of the distributional impacts of water pricing reforms," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 63-69.
    18. Roberto Balado-Naves & Marian Garcia-Valiñas & David Roibas, 2023. "Efficiency, perceived prices, and household water demand: A stochastic frontier analysis for the Spanish city of Gijón," Efficiency Series Papers 2023/01, University of Oviedo, Department of Economics, Oviedo Efficiency Group (OEG).
    19. Ming-Feng Hung & Bin-Tzong Chie & Huei-Chu Liao, 2020. "A Comparison of Electricity-Pricing Programs: Economic Efficiency, Cost Recovery, and Income Distribution," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 56(1), pages 143-163, February.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Dinusha Dharmaratna & Edwyna Harris, 2010. "Estimating Residential Water Demand using the Stone-Geary Functional Form: the Case of Sri Lanka," Monash Economics Working Papers 46-10, Monash University, Department of Economics.
    2. Henrique Monteiro, 2010. "Residential Water Demand in Portugal: checking for efficiency-based justifications for increasing block tariffs," Working Papers Series 1 ercwp0110, ISCTE-IUL, Business Research Unit (BRU-IUL).
    3. Mónica Maldonado-Devis & Vicent Almenar-Llongo, 2021. "A Panel Data Estimation of Domestic Water Demand with IRT Tariff Structure: The Case of the City of Valencia (Spain)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-26, January.
    4. Andrew C. Worthington & Mark Hoffman, 2008. "An Empirical Survey Of Residential Water Demand Modelling," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(5), pages 842-871, December.
    5. Worthington, Andrew C., 2010. "Commercial and Industrial Water Demand Estimation: Theoretical and Methodological Guidelines for Applied Economics Research/Estimación de la demanda de agua comercial e industrial: pautas teóricas y m," Estudios de Economia Aplicada, Estudios de Economia Aplicada, vol. 28, pages 237-258, Agosto.
    6. Ming-Feng Hung & Bin-Tzong Chie, 2013. "Residential Water Use: Efficiency, Affordability, and Price Elasticity," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 27(1), pages 275-291, January.
    7. Ming-Feng Hung & Bin-Tzong Chie & Tai-Hsin Huang, 2017. "Residential water demand and water waste in Taiwan," Environmental Economics and Policy Studies, Springer;Society for Environmental Economics and Policy Studies - SEEPS, vol. 19(2), pages 249-268, April.
    8. Arbues, Fernando & Garcia-Valinas, Maria Angeles & Martinez-Espineira, Roberto, 2003. "Estimation of residential water demand: a state-of-the-art review," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 81-102, March.
    9. Roberto Martínez-Espiñeira, 2007. "An Estimation of Residential Water Demand Using Co-Integration and Error Correction Techniques," Journal of Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 10(1), pages 161-184, May.
    10. Darío F. Jiménez & Sergio A. Orrego & Felipe A. Vásquez & Roberto D. Ponce, 2017. "Estimating water demand for urban residential use using a discrete-continuous model and disaggregated data at the household level: the case of the city of Manizales, Colombia," Lecturas de Economía, Universidad de Antioquia, Departamento de Economía, issue 86, pages 153-178, Enero - J.
    11. Acuña, Guillermo, 2017. "Elasticidades de la demanda de agua en Chile [Elasticities of water demand in Chile]," MPRA Paper 82916, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    12. Guillermo Ignacio Acuña & Cristián Echeverría & Alex Godoy & Felipe Vásquez, 2020. "The role of climate variability in convergence of residential water consumption across Chilean localities," Environmental Economics and Policy Studies, Springer;Society for Environmental Economics and Policy Studies - SEEPS, vol. 22(1), pages 89-108, January.
    13. Tchigriaeva, Elena & Lott, Corey & Kimberly, Rollins, 2014. "Modeling effects of multiple conservation policy instruments and exogenous factors on urban residential water demand through household heterogeneity," 2014 Annual Meeting, July 27-29, 2014, Minneapolis, Minnesota 170605, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    14. María Ángeles García-Valiñas & Sara Suárez-Fernández, 2022. "Are Economic Tools Useful to Manage Residential Water Demand? A Review of Old Issues and Emerging Topics," Post-Print hal-04067487, HAL.
    15. Tomas Havranek & Zuzana Irsova & Tomas Vlach, 2018. "Measuring the Income Elasticity of Water Demand: The Importance of Publication and Endogeneity Biases," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 94(2), pages 259-283.
    16. Jiménez, Darío F. & Orrego, Sergio A. & Vásquez, Felipe A. & Ponce, Roberto D., 2016. "Estimación de la demanda de agua para uso residencial urbano usando un modelo discreto-continuo y datos desagregados a nivel de hogar: el caso de la ciudad de Manizales, Colombia," Revista Lecturas de Economía, Universidad de Antioquia, CIE, issue 86, pages 153-178, December.
    17. Rita Martins & Adelino Fortunato, 2005. "Residential water demand under block rates: a Portuguese case study," GEMF Working Papers 2005-09, GEMF, Faculty of Economics, University of Coimbra.
    18. R. Quentin Grafton & Tom Kompas & Hang To & Michael Ward, 2009. "Residential Water Consumption: A Cross Country Analysis," Environmental Economics Research Hub Research Reports 0923, Environmental Economics Research Hub, Crawford School of Public Policy, The Australian National University, revised Aug 2009.
    19. Havranek, Tomas & Irsova, Zuzana & Vlach, Tomas, 2016. "Publication Bias in Measuring the Income Elasticity of Water Demand," MPRA Paper 75247, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    20. Ruijs, A. & Zimmermann, A. & van den Berg, M., 2008. "Demand and distributional effects of water pricing policies," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(2-3), pages 506-516, June.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:waterr:v:26:y:2012:i:8:p:2283-2299. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.