Marine Debris, Beach Quality, and Non-Market Values

V. Smith, Xiaolong Zhang and Raymond Palmquist
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: Vernon L. Smith () and V. Kerry Smith

Environmental & Resource Economics, 1997, vol. 10, issue 3, 223-247

Abstract: This paper reports the first attempt to measure the importance of controlling marine debris as an aesthetic characteristic of beaches and coastal area. The results are based on a contingent valuation survey designed to estimate the economic value people would place on controlling marine debris on recreational beaches in New Jersey and North Carolina. A Weibull survival model was estimated treating for and against votes as defining censoring points for an unknown willingness to pay distribution. The findings suggest: (1) people do distinguish situations with differing amounts of debris when they are described using color photographs; (2) the pilot survey implies measures of people's willingness to pay (WTP) for debris control are consistent with a scope test in that larger WTP is associated with programs intended to address situations for more serious background levels of debris; and (3) local beach conditions seem to influence how people interpreted the plans describing beach conditions without the proposed control programs. Copyright Kluwer Academic Publishers 1997

Keywords: marine debris; contingent valuation; scope test (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1997
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (13)

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Working Paper: Marine Debris, Beach Quality and Non-Market Values (1995)
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DOI: 10.1023/A:1026465413899

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