Benefit transfers: Conceptual and empirical issues

Abstract

The focus of this special section is the conceptual and empirical issues regarding benefit transfer applications. A benefit transfer is the application of monetary values obtained from a particular nonmarket goods analysis to an alternative or secondary policy decision setting. The papers address the ongoing development of the procedures for benefit transfers through a case study approach. This paper attempts to focus the discussion of benefit transfers and highlight the issues discussed in each of the papers. INTRODUCTIONThe papers in this special section examine the conceptual and empirical issues associated with benefit transfer applications, that is, the application of monetary values obtained for a specific nonmarket goods analysis to an alternative or secondary policy decision setting. An earlier special section of this journal entitled "On Valuing Water-Based Recreation" considered nonmarket valuation issues for waterbased recreation (see Brookshire and Smith [1987] for an overview). The following set of papers builds upon the previous special section. While the earlier special section emphasized the evolutionary state of nonmarket benefit estimation, the authors of these papers move to the conceptual and empirical issues regarding the use of nonmarket benefit estimates.Our interest in considering what constitutes a benefit transfer is to gain insight into the nature of the process, and the potential limits of benefit transfer applications. We begin by considering different views as to what is a benefit transfer application: Desvousges et al. [this issue] characterize a benefit transfer as follows:We call the use of existing studies "benefit transfer." The river where an existing study was conducted is termed the "study site •' and the river under consideration for water quality improvements the "policy site." The estimated benefits are "transferred" from the study site to the policy site. Boyle and Bergstrom [this issue] similarly describe a benefit transfer as the transfer of existing estimates of nonmarket values to a newstudy which is different from the study for which the values were originally estimated .... [T]his is simply the application of secondary data to a new policy issue. Smith [this issue] suggests the process of a benefit transferinvolves focusling] on measuring (in dollars) how much the people affected by some policy will gain from it. They are not forecasts, and they usually do not attempt to predict other exogenous influences on people's behavior. Instead, a predefined set of' conditions is assumed to characterize the nonpolicy variables. Then benefit estimates are derived by focusing on the effects of the conditions assumed to be changed by the policy.

Mapping the value of ecosystem services: A case study from the Austrian Alps

“…Although the method is widely applied, the quality of the data are lower than those of primary studies, so the fi gures should be accurately examined. As Brookshire and Neill (1992) pointed out, the level of accuracy of BT is at the most equal to the original survey. The studies collected in the meta-analysis have very similar features to Leiblachtal, so the results appear to be reliable.…”

Economic and Health Risk Trade-Offs of Swim Closures at a Lake Michigan Beach

“…First, the results from a transfer can only be as good as the original studies that are used. The valid use of transfer techniques demands attention to the same sources of error that affected the original studies (16). Second, the resources or services being valued and the user groups in the study and policy sites must be comparable (17).…”

Recreation Value of a New Long-Distance Walking Track

“…The minimum degree of accuracy necessary is related to the cost of making a wrong decision based on the results of the transfer. Brookshire and Neill (1992) and Desvousges et al (1992) discussed a continuum of accuracy for benefit transfer based on the intended use. If the outcome is simply a gain in knowledge where inaccuracies involve small cost to society, a low level of accuracy is acceptable.…”