The value of water quality improvements in the region Berlin–Brandenburg as a function of distance and state residency

Abstract

The value of water quality improvements in the region BerlinBrandenburg as a function of distance and state residency Meyerhoff, J., Boeri, M., & Hartje, V. (2014) The value of water quality improvements in the rivers of the metropolitan region Berlin-1 Brandenburg as a function of distance and state residency 2Abstract: The study uses a discrete choice experiment (DCE) to elicit willingness to pay estimates for 3 changes in the water quality of five river stretches. As many regions the metropolitan region Berlin-4Brandenburg struggles to achieve the objectives of the Water Framework Directive until 2015. A 5 major problem is the high load of nutrients. As the region is part of two states (Länder) and the river 6 sections are common throughout the whole region we account for the spatial context twofold. Firstly, 7we incorporate the distance between each respondent and all river stretches in all MNL and RPL 8 models, and, secondly, we consider whether respondents reside in the state of Berlin or Brandenburg. 9The compensating variation (CV) calculated for various scenarios shows that overall people would 10 significantly benefit from improved water quality. The CV measures, however, also reveal that not 11 considering the spatial context would result in severely biased welfare measures. While the distance-12 decay effect lowers CV state residency is connected to the frequency of status quo choices and not 13 accounting for residency would underestimate possible welfare gains in one state. Another finding is 14 that the extent of the market varies with respect to attributes (river stretches) and attribute levels (water 15 quality levels). 16

Lake‐type‐specific seasonal patterns of nutrient limitation in German lakes, with target nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations for good ecological status

“…Improving the water quality of lakes, rivers and other waterbodies is an environmental issue with considerable public and political backing, as evidenced by legislation such at the WFD in Europe, and by the public's willingness to pay (e.g. Meyerhoff, Boeri & Hartje, ). Substantial reductions in phosphorus concentrations have been achieved and have undoubtedly improved water quality (Jeppesen et al ., ).…”

Protest response and willingness to pay for culturally significant urban trees: Implications for Contingent Valuation Method

“…However, the CVM has been criticized as methodologically flawed (Gatzweiler, 2014;Lo and Spash, 2013;Spash, 2008;Spash et al, 2009;Whitehead, 2014). One key limitation is the existence of a large proportion of respondents in the sample providing zero WTP and that these responses are not amenable to economic theory -commonly known as 'protest' responses (Jorgensen and Syme, 2000;Jorgensen et al, 2001;Meyerhoff et al, 2014a;Liebe, 2006, 2010;Meyerhoff et al, 2014b). Censoring and excluding protest responses from further analysis is a common practice in order to avoid conceptual inconsistencies and underestimation of aggregate WTP estimates.…”

Heterogeneous Preferences for Public Goods Provided by Agriculture in a Region of Intensive Agricultural Production: The Case of the Marchfeld

“…Alternatively, if PGs can be connected to a market good, it is also possible to apply revealed preference (RP) methods [20]. Valuation studies of PGs provided by agriculture comprise, for example, air quality and climate stability [21,22], (bio)diversity of agricultural landscapes [23][24][25], soil functionality [26,27] or (ground)water quality [28][29][30].…”