Testing Construct Validity of River Recreation Use Values: A Comparison of Direct Elicitation of Use Values to Use Values Inferred Indirectly from WTP for Total Economic Value

John Loomis

No 60410, 2010 Annual Meeting, July 25-27, 2010, Denver, Colorado from Agricultural and Applied Economics Association

Abstract: The Total Economic Value (TEV of on-site use and passive use values) of avoiding a 50% reduction in current early summer high flows is estimated for a western urban river in Colorado. Using a contingent valuation method (CVM) survey of households we found that willingness to pay (WTP) for TEV of city households was $234 per year, with most of this value, $207, being use value. Using a second CVM question specifically about recreation use value of visitors yielded an estimated annual WTP of $156 per year. Given the large variances in estimated WTP, the two estimates of recreation use value are not significantly different. Summing up the TEV’s per household in the city yields an annual value of $171 to $255 per acre foot, several times larger than annual water lease rates in Northern Colorado.

Keywords: Environmental Economics and Policy; Public Economics; Resource/Energy Economics and Policy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 22
Date: 2010
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:aaea10:60410

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.60410

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