 Marine Debris, Beach Quality and Non-Market ValuesV. Smith, Xiaolong Zhang and Raymond B. Palmqvist No 95-35, Working Papers from Duke University, Department of Economics 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 the for and against votes as defining censoring points for the 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 wiht larger WTP 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. JEL-codes: H41 Q20 (search for similar items in EconPapers) Published in ENVIRONMENTAL AND RESOURCE ECONOMICS, Vol. 10, 1997, pages 223-247 There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it. Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:duk:dukeec:95-35 Access Statistics for this paper More papers in Working Papers from Duke University, Department of Economics Department of Economics Duke University 213 Social Sciences Building Box 90097 Durham, NC 27708-0097. |
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