America’s Wetland? A National Survey of Willingness to Pay for Restoration of Louisiana’s Coastal Wetlands

Petrolia, Daniel R.; Interis, Matthew G.; Hidrue, Michael K.; Hwang, Joonghyun; Moore, Ross G.; Kim, GwanSeon

doi:10.2139/ssrn.2054867

Cited by 3 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 57 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Kim, Petrolia, and Interis (2012) applied a new "quasi-double-referendum (QDR)" valuation technique to barrier island restoration in Mississippi. Finally, Petrolia, Interis, and Hwang (2014) conducted a nationwide survey to assess welfare benefits of wetland restoration in coastal Louisiana; respondents reported an average WTP a one-time tax of $909 per household.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Valuing Marine Biodiversity in the Gulf of Mexico: Evidence from the Proposed Boundary Expansion of the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary

Stefański¹,

Shimshack²

2016

Marine Resource Economics

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

A B S T R A C TEcological diversity is especially high in the Gulf of Mexico, and multiple Gulf of Mexico resources imply complex management challenges. Yet, relatively little is known about social values of marine biodiversity in the Gulf of Mexico. This article uses results from a stated preference survey of nationally representative households to quantify economic values. The specific assessment scenario involves a current policy proposal to expand the boundaries of the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary. Willingness to pay estimates range from $35-$107 per household. Respondent characteristics are related to willingness to pay in ways consistent with economic intuition and theory. We conclude with aggregate willingness to pay calculations, and results suggest that total social benefits of marine reserve expansion in the Gulf region are large.Key words: Marine biodiversity, Gulf of Mexico, national marine sanctuary.JEL Codes: Q22, Q28, Q51. INTRODUCTIONThe Gulf of Mexico is a hub of marine biodiversity, commercial fishing, oil and gas exploration and drilling, and outdoor recreation. Managing multiple uses in the area is costly and controversial, and scholars and policymakers regularly debate the cost effectiveness of marine conservation and biodiversity protection (Coleman, Baker, and Koenig 2004;Cruz and McLaughlin 2008). Discussions of conservation costs focus on restrictions to commercial fishing and oil/gas sectors, administrative expenditures, and economic losses to local communities. Discussions of conservation benefits, however, are comparatively vague, as both use and non-use values for preserving marine biodiversity are difficult to measure. Balanced policy choices, however, require a more complete understanding of such benefits.This study explores US residents' willingness to pay (WTP), a measure of social value, for marine protected areas in the Gulf of Mexico. We focus on marine conservation in the Gulf of Mexico for three reasons. First, ecological diversity there is especially high. A current census ofStephanie F. Stefanski is a PhD student, Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University, 9 Circuit Dr., Durham, NC 27708 USA (email: stephanie.stefanski@duke.edu). Jay P. Shimshack, Associate Professor of Public Policy and Economics, Frank Batten School, University of Virginia, 235 McCormick Rd., Charlottesville, VA 22904 USA (email: jay.shimshack@virginia.edu).The authors thank Editor-in-Chief Martin Smith, an anonymous associate editor, three anonymous referees, Bob Leeworthy, G. P. Schmahl, the staff of the NOAA Office of Marine Sanctuaries, Quenton Dokken, the staff of the Gulf of Mexico Foundation, Timothy Beatty, Rob Mendelsohn, and Michael B. Ward for helpful discussions. The authors also thank Tulane University's Murphy Institute, Newcomb College, and Georges Lurcy program for generous support. global marine biodiversity ranked the Gulf of Mexico in the top five in both species per unit area and threats to species diversity (Costello et al. 2010). Second, Gulf Coast resourc...

show abstract

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Directly asking respondents about consequentiality issues could have provided valuable additional information. For example, Petrolia, Interis, and Hwang (2014) asked respondents 'how important did you think your vote would be . .…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Valuing Marine Biodiversity in the Gulf of Mexico: Evidence from the Proposed Boundary Expansion of the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary

Stefański¹,

Shimshack²

2016

Marine Resource Economics

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In order for respondents to provide meaningful data, they need to believe that the survey is consequential and that their responses matter for policy purposes. At least two recent studies are designed to address consequentiality (Herriges et al 2010;Petrolia et al, 2014). Both appear to have fat tails, suggesting that a lack of Again, we see fat tails as a manifestation of hypothetical bias (the tendency of people to report a value other than their true value due to the hypothetical nature of a survey) and not an isolated contingent valuation issue.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 77%

Fat tails and truncated bids in contingent valuation: an application to an endangered shorebird species

Parsons¹,

Myers²

2017

Contingent Valuation of Environmental Goods

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…As both Barbier (2013) and Börger et al (2014) point out, revealed preference methods such as hedonic and travel cost models are not applicable to many marine ecosystem services, such as those provided by the deep sea, due to a lack of any direct effect on market behavior from which to infer values. Thus, there may be a need for greater reliance on valuation estimates from bio-economic models (e.g., Barbier 2012; Barbier and Lee 2013;Fenichel and Abbott 2014;Tschirhart 2003a, 2003b;Sanchirico and Mumby 2009), or with the use of stated-preference methods, such as contingent valuation and choice experiments (e.g., Bagstad et al 2012;Bauer, Cyr, and Swallow 2004;Carlsson, Frykblom, and Liljenstolpe 2003;Holmes et al 2004;Moore, Holmes, and Bell 2011;Loomis et al 2000;Petrolia, Interis, and Hwang 2014), or contingent behavior, although the latter is geared less to valuation. As Börger et al (2014) point out, stated-preference methods require careful attention to survey designs to convey meaningful and understandable descriptions of ecosystem services to the general public.…”

Section: Emerging Research Direction: Ecosystem Services Valuationmentioning

confidence: 99%

What Have We Learned from the Deepwater Horizon Disaster? An Economist’s Perspective

Petrolia

2015

Journal of Ocean and Coastal Economics

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This paper outlines what we have learned about the impacts of the Deepwater Horizon (DWH) oil disaster from the economics discipline as well as what effect the DWH disaster has had on the economics discipline. It appears that what we know about the economic impact of the DWH spill today is limited, possibly because such analysis is tied up in the federal Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA) process and other stateled efforts. There is evidence, however, that the NRDA process has changed over time to de-emphasize economic valuation of damages. There is also evidence that economists may be producing fewer outputs as a result of the DWH relative to scholars from other disciplines because of an apparent absence of funding for it. Of the research that has taken place, this paper provides a summary and highlights the main directions of future research. It appears that the most pressing topic is addressing the incentives and policies in place to promote a culture of safety in the offshore oil industry. Also, it appears that the most prominent, and challenging, direction of future research resulting from the DWH is the expansion of an ecosystems services approach to damage assessment and marine policy.Lea el abstracto en español 请点击此处阅读中文摘要

show abstract

America’s Wetland? A National Survey of Willingness to Pay for Restoration of Louisiana’s Coastal Wetlands

Cited by 3 publications

References 57 publications

Valuing Marine Biodiversity in the Gulf of Mexico: Evidence from the Proposed Boundary Expansion of the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary

Valuing Marine Biodiversity in the Gulf of Mexico: Evidence from the Proposed Boundary Expansion of the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary

Fat tails and truncated bids in contingent valuation: an application to an endangered shorebird species

What Have We Learned from the Deepwater Horizon Disaster? An Economist’s Perspective

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About