Household Demand for Water in Rural Kenya

Jake Wagner (), Joseph Cook and Peter Kimuyu
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Jake Wagner: Washington State University
Joseph Cook: Washington State University
Peter Kimuyu: Commission for Revenue Allocation

Environmental & Resource Economics, 2019, vol. 74, issue 4, No 5, 1563-1584

Abstract: Abstract To expand and maintain water supply infrastructure in rural regions of developing countries, planners and policymakers need better information on the preferences of households who might use the sources. Using data from 387 households in rural Kenya, we model source choice and water demand using a discrete-continuous (linked) demand model. We find that households are sensitive to the price, proximity, taste, and availability in choosing among sources, but are not sensitive to other source qualities including color, health risk, and risk of conflict. Estimates of the value of time implied by our model suggest that households value time spent collecting water at one third of unskilled wages. We use the linked demand framework to estimate own-price elasticities in the rural setting. These estimates range between − 0.13 and − 1.33, with a mean of − 0.56, and are consistent with other elasticity estimates from small and large cities.

Keywords: Rural water supply; Water source choice; Value of travel time; Water quality; Kenya; Household water demand; WASH; Water collection; Discrete-continuous demand (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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DOI: 10.1007/s10640-019-00380-5

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