Willingness to pay for improved water services: evidence from Peru

Francisco Galarza (), Max Carbajal () and Julio Aguirre
Additional contact information
Max Carbajal: Pontifical Catholic University of Peru

Environmental Economics and Policy Studies, 2024, vol. 26, issue 3, No 2, 503-539

Abstract: Abstract We study the willingness to pay (WTP) for a large set of improvements in water service related to quality, continuity, and securing access for people with no house piped water during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using primary survey data from urban Peru, and the contingent valuation method, we estimate a mean WTP of around PEN 4.3 (USD 1.05), 3.7 and 1.8, respectively, for the aforementioned sets of improvements, with the combined WTP representing a 23% increase in the households’ water service monthly bill. The WTP for all sets of improvements is influenced by the expenditure in bottled water (a substitute for tap water, generally perceived as unsafe) and a proxy for household assets. The influence of the individual characteristics typically scrutinized by the literature (e.g., sex, age, and education) varies with the type of improvement examined. We find a significant heterogeneity in WTP across providers and calculate the users’ contribution to a water fund that could crowd-in the public investment in water services’ upgrades. We further discuss the implementation of such water fund.

Keywords: Access to tap water; Contingent valuation method; COVID-19; Quality; Willingness to pay (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D12 I10 L95 Q25 Q51 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10018-023-00381-1 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:envpol:v:26:y:2024:i:3:d:10.1007_s10018-023-00381-1

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer. ... mental/journal/10018

DOI: 10.1007/s10018-023-00381-1

Access Statistics for this article

Environmental Economics and Policy Studies is currently edited by Ken-Ichi Akao

More articles in Environmental Economics and Policy Studies from Springer, Society for Environmental Economics and Policy Studies - SEEPS Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().