IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecolec/v72y2011icp116-128.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Distributing water's bounty

Author

Listed:
  • Griffin, Ronald C.
  • Mjelde, James W.

Abstract

Following an investigation of theoretical issues and an inventory of modeling requirements, support for increasing block rates is examined empirically, through comparison to a uniform rate that includes scarce water value. Using a single-year, monthly simulation model, it is found that under conditions of scarcity, households using smaller amounts of water are better off with a uniform rate than an increasing block. Large water users have opposing preferences. Similar results arise for those household characteristics which are correlated with water use, such as income, property value, number of residents, and outdoor area of the property. For example, low-income households prefer scarcity-inclusive uniform rates over increasing block rates when scarcity is present. Therefore, in contrast to popularized opinion, increasing block rates do not place the welfare burden of conservation on large water users, nor do such rates favor low-income people in scarce-water circumstances.

Suggested Citation

  • Griffin, Ronald C. & Mjelde, James W., 2011. "Distributing water's bounty," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 116-128.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:72:y:2011:i:c:p:116-128
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2011.09.013
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921800911003892
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2011.09.013?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. Richardson, James W. & Klose, Steven L. & Gray, Allan W., 2000. "An Applied Procedure For Estimating And Simulating Multivariate Empirical (Mve) Probability Distributions In Farm-Level Risk Assessment And Policy Analysis," Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Southern Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 32(2), pages 1-17, August.
    2. Jasper M. Dalhuisen & Raymond J. G. M. Florax & JHenri L. F. de Groot & Peter Nijkamp, 2003. "Price and Income Elasticities of Residential Water Demand: A Meta-Analysis," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 79(2), pages 292-308.
    3. Grafton, R. Quentin & Kompas, Tom & To, Hang & Ward, Michael B., 2009. "Residential Water Consumption: A Cross Country Analysis," Research Reports 94823, Australian National University, Environmental Economics Research Hub.
    4. S. Gaudin, 2006. "Effect of price information on residential water demand," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(4), pages 383-393.
    5. Douglas N. Jones & Patrick C. Mann, 2001. "The Fairness Criterion in Public Utility Regulation: Does Fairness Still Matter?," Journal of Economic Issues, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(1), pages 153-172, March.
    6. Ronald C. Griffin, 2006. "Water Resource Economics: The Analysis of Scarcity, Policies, and Projects," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 026207267x, December.
    7. Richard E, Just & Darrell L. Heuth & Andrew Schmitz, 2004. "The Welfare Economics of Public Policy," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 3342, March.
    8. Ronald C. Griffin & James W. Mjelde, 2000. "Valuing Water Supply Reliability," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 82(2), pages 414-426.
    9. Geoff Edwards, 2006. "Whose Values Count? Demand Management for Melbourne's Water," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 82(s1), pages 54-63, September.
    10. Wu, Ximing & Perloff, Jeffrey M., 2007. "GMM estimation of a maximum entropy distribution with interval data," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 138(2), pages 532-546, June.
    11. 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.
    12. Johansson,Per-Olov, 1991. "An Introduction to Modern Welfare Economics," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521356954, June.
    13. Hugh Sibly, 2006. "Urban Water Pricing," Agenda - A Journal of Policy Analysis and Reform, Australian National University, College of Business and Economics, School of Economics, vol. 13(1), pages 17-30.
    14. R. Quentin Grafton & Michael B. Ward, 2008. "Prices versus Rationing: Marshallian Surplus and Mandatory Water Restrictions," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 84(s1), pages 57-65, September.
    15. repec:bla:ausecr:v:39:y:2006:i:2:p:227-237 is not listed on IDEAS
    16. Bithas, Kostas, 2008. "The sustainable residential water use: Sustainability, efficiency and social equity. The European experience," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(1-2), pages 221-229, December.
    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. Epiphane Assouan & Tina Rambonilaza & Bénédicte Rulleau, 2018. "Renewal of water-related infrastructure and user\'s contribution: a few benchmarks," Cahiers du GREThA (2007-2019) 2018-19, Groupe de Recherche en Economie Théorique et Appliquée (GREThA).
    2. Favre, Marine & Montginoul, Marielle, 2018. "Water pricing in Tunisia: Can an original rate structure achieve multiple objectives?," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 209-223.
    3. R. Quentin Grafton, 2017. "Responding to the ‘Wicked Problem’ of Water Insecurity," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 31(10), pages 3023-3041, August.
    4. Pinto, Francisco Silva & Marques, Rui Cuhna, 2015. "Tariff recommendations: A Panacea for the Portuguese water sector?," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 36-44.
    5. Sowby, Robert B. & South, Andrew J., 2023. "Innovative water rates as a policy tool for drought response: Two case studies from Utah, USA," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    6. Rita Martins & Luis Cruz & Eduardo Barata, 2013. "Water Price Regulation: A Review of Portuguese Tariff Recommendations," Public Organization Review, Springer, vol. 13(2), pages 197-205, June.
    7. Ronald C. Griffin, 2012. "The Origins and Ideals of Water Resource Economics in the United States," Annual Review of Resource Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 4(1), pages 353-377, August.

    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. Sheila M. Olmstead, 2010. "The Economics of Managing Scarce Water Resources," Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 4(2), pages 179-198, Summer.
    2. 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.
    3. 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).
    4. 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.
    5. Milan Ščasný & Šarlota Smutná, 2021. "Estimation of price and income elasticity of residential water demand in the Czech Republic over three decades," Journal of Consumer Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 55(2), pages 580-608, June.
    6. David R. Bell & Ronald C. Griffin, 2011. "Urban Water Demand with Periodic Error Correction," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 87(3), pages 528-544.
    7. Hugh Sibly & Richard Tooth, 2014. "The consequences of using increasing block tariffs to price urban water," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 58(2), pages 223-243, April.
    8. John Freebairn, 2013. "Imperfect Knowledge and Urban Water Decisions," Economic Papers, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 32(1), pages 32-40, March.
    9. repec:bla:ausecr:v:41:y:2008:i:4:p:401-412 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Aisbett, Emma & Steinhauser, Ralf, 2011. "Does anybody give a dam? The importance of public awareness for urban water conservation during drought," Research Reports 107850, Australian National University, Environmental Economics Research Hub.
    11. Olmstead, Sheila M. & Stavins, Robert N., 2008. "Comparing Price and Non-price Approaches to Urban Water Conservation," RFF Working Paper Series dp-08-22, Resources for the Future.
    12. Schleich, Joachim & Hillenbrand, Thomas, 2009. "Determinants of residential water demand in Germany," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(6), pages 1756-1769, April.
    13. Teresa Torregrosa & Martín Sevilla & Borja Montaño & Victoria López-Vico, 2010. "The Integrated Management of Water Resources in Marina Baja (Alicante, Spain). A Simultaneous Equation Model," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 24(14), pages 3799-3815, November.
    14. Hughes, Neal & Hafi, Ahmed & Goesch, Tim & Brownlowe, Nathan, 2008. "Urban water management: optimal price and investment policy under uncertainty," 2008 Conference (52nd), February 5-8, 2008, Canberra, Australia 6005, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society.
    15. Joachim Schleich & Thomas Hillenbrand, 2019. "Residential water demand responds asymmetrically to rising and falling prices," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(45), pages 4973-4981, September.
    16. 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.
    17. Barker, Andrew & Murray, Tim & Salerian, John, 2010. "Developing a Partial Equilibrium Model of an Urban Water System," Staff Working Papers 102, Productivity Commission, Government of Australia.
    18. D. Manouseli & B. Anderson & M. Nagarajan, 2018. "Domestic Water Demand During Droughts in Temperate Climates: Synthesising Evidence for an Integrated Framework," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 32(2), pages 433-447, January.
    19. 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.
    20. Schleich, Joachim & Hillenbrand, Thomas, 2019. "Water demand responds asymmetrically to rising and falling prices," Working Papers "Sustainability and Innovation" S03/2019, Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research (ISI).
    21. Neal Hughes & Ahmed Hafi & Tim Goesch, 2009. "Urban water management: optimal price and investment policy under climate variability ," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 53(2), pages 175-192, April.

    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:eee:ecolec:v:72:y:2011:i:c:p:116-128. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/ecolecon .

    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.