[go: up one dir, main page]
More Web Proxy on the site http://driver.im/
IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/nbr/nberwo/13513.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The Value of Scarce Water: Measuring the Inefficiency of Municipal Regulations

Author

Listed:
  • Erin T. Mansur
  • Sheila M. Olmstead
Abstract
Rather than allowing water prices to reflect scarcity rents during periods of drought-induced excess demand, policy makers have mandated command-and-control approaches, like the curtailment of certain uses, primarily outdoor watering. Using unique panel data on residential end-uses of water, we examine the welfare implications of typical drought policies. Using price variation across and within markets, we identify end-use specific price elasticities. Our results suggest that current policies target water uses that households, themselves, are most willing to forgo. Nevertheless, we find that use restrictions have costly welfare implications, primarily due to household heterogeneity in willingness-to-pay for scarce water.

Suggested Citation

  • Erin T. Mansur & Sheila M. Olmstead, 2007. "The Value of Scarce Water: Measuring the Inefficiency of Municipal Regulations," NBER Working Papers 13513, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:13513
    Note: EEE IO
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.nber.org/papers/w13513.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jasper M. Dalhuisen & Raymond J. G. M. Florax & JHenri L. F. de Groot & Peter Nijkamp, 2003. "Price and Income Elasticities of Residential Water Demand: A Meta-Analysis," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 79(2), pages 292-308.
    2. Montgomery, W. David, 1972. "Markets in licenses and efficient pollution control programs," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 5(3), pages 395-418, December.
    3. Christopher Timmins, 2003. "Demand-Side Technology Standards Under Inefficient Pricing Regimes," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 26(1), pages 107-124, September.
    4. Dallas Burtraw & Alan Krupnick & Erin Mansur & David Austin & Deirdre Farrell, 1998. "Costs And Benefits Of Reducing Air Pollutants Related To Acid Rain," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 16(4), pages 379-400, October.
    5. Parry, Ian W.H. & Timilsina, Govinda R., 2010. "How should passenger travel in Mexico City be priced?," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(2), pages 167-182, September.
    6. Kraus, Marvin, 1989. "The welfare gains from pricing road congestion using automatic vehicle identification and on-vehicle meters," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(3), pages 261-281, May.
    7. Donna Brennan & Sorada Tapsuwan & Gordon Ingram, 2007. "The welfare costs of urban outdoor water restrictions," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 51(3), pages 243-261, September.
    8. Lawrence H. Goulder & Ian W.H. Parry & Roberton C. Williams III & Dallas Burtraw, 2002. "The Cost-Effectiveness of Alternative Instruments for Environmental Protection in a Second-Best Setting," Chapters, in: Lawrence H. Goulder (ed.), Environmental Policy Making in Economies with Prior Tax Distortions, chapter 27, pages 523-554, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    9. Olmstead, Sheila M., 2009. "Reduced-Form Versus Structural Models of Water Demand Under Nonlinear Prices," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 27, pages 84-94.
    10. Mary E. Renwick & Sandra O. Archibald, 1998. "Demand Side Management Policies for Residential Water Use: Who Bears the Conservation Burden?," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 74(3), pages 343-359.
    11. Newell, Richard G & Stavins, Robert N, 2003. "Cost Heterogeneity and the Potential Savings from Market-Based Policies," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 23(1), pages 43-59, January.
    12. West, Sarah E. & Williams, R.C.Roberton III, 2004. "Estimates from a consumer demand system: implications for the incidence of environmental taxes," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 47(3), pages 535-558, May.
    13. Lawrence H. Goulder & Roberton C. Williams III, 2003. "The Substantial Bias from Ignoring General Equilibrium Effects in Estimating Excess Burden, and a Practical Solution," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 111(4), pages 898-927, August.
    14. Andrew N. Kleit & Dek Terrell, 2001. "Measuring Potential Efficiency Gains From Deregulation Of Electricity Generation: A Bayesian Approach," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 83(3), pages 523-530, August.
    15. Daniel, Joseph I., 2001. "Distributional Consequences of Airport Congestion Pricing," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(2), pages 230-258, September.
    16. Small, Kenneth A., 2001. "The Value of Pricing," University of California Transportation Center, Working Papers qt0rm449sx, University of California Transportation Center.
    17. Krause, Kate & Chermak, Janie M & Brookshire, David S, 2003. "The Demand for Water: Consumer Response to Scarcity," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 23(2), pages 167-191, March.
    18. Parry, Ian W. H. & Bento, Antonio, 2002. "Estimating the Welfare Effect of Congestion Taxes: The Critical Importance of Other Distortions within the Transport System," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(2), pages 339-365, March.
    19. Small, Kenneth A. & Yan, Jia, 2001. "The Value of "Value Pricing" of Roads: Second-Best Pricing and Product Differentiation," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(2), pages 310-336, March.
    20. Pels, Eric & Verhoef, Erik T., 2004. "The economics of airport congestion pricing," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(2), pages 257-277, March.
    21. Martin L. Weitzman, 1977. "Is the Price System or Rationing More Effective in Getting a Commodity to Those Who Need It Most?," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 8(2), pages 517-524, Autumn.
    22. Suen, Wing, 1990. "Statistical Models of Consumer Behavior with Heterogeneous Values and Constraints," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 28(1), pages 79-98, January.
    23. Julie A. Hewitt & W. Michael Hanemann, 1995. "A Discrete/Continuous Choice Approach to Residential Water Demand under Block Rate Pricing," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 71(2), pages 173-192.
    24. John McMillan, 1994. "Selling Spectrum Rights," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 8(3), pages 145-162, Summer.
    25. Olmstead, Sheila M. & Michael Hanemann, W. & Stavins, Robert N., 2007. "Water demand under alternative price structures," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 54(2), pages 181-198, September.
    26. Hanemann, W Michael, 1984. "Discrete-Continuous Models of Consumer Demand," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 52(3), pages 541-561, May.
    27. Gruber, Jon & Saez, Emmanuel, 2002. "The elasticity of taxable income: evidence and implications," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(1), pages 1-32, April.
    28. Martin L. Weitzman, 1974. "Prices vs. Quantities," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 41(4), pages 477-491.
    29. Melody, William H, 1980. "Radio Spectrum Allocation: Role of the Market," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 70(2), pages 393-397, May.
    30. Newey, Whitney K., 1987. "Efficient estimation of limited dependent variable models with endogenous explanatory variables," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 36(3), pages 231-250, November.
    31. Burtraw, Dallas & Krupnick, Alan & Austin, David & Farrell, Deirdre & Mansur, Erin, 1997. "The Costs and Benefits of Reducing Acid Rain," RFF Working Paper Series dp-97-31-rev, Resources for the Future.
    32. Tom Tietenberg, 1995. "Tradeable permits for pollution control when emission location matters: What have we learned?," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 5(2), pages 95-113, March.
    33. Moffitt, Robert, 1986. "The Econometrics of Piecewise-Linear Budget Constraints: A Survey and Exposition of the Maximum Likelihood Method," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 4(3), pages 317-328, July.
    34. R. G. Lipsey & Kelvin Lancaster, 1956. "The General Theory of Second Best," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 24(1), pages 11-32.
    35. Baumol,William J. & Oates,Wallace E., 1988. "The Theory of Environmental Policy," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521322249, September.
    36. Piet Rietveld & Jan Rouwendal & Bert Zwart, 2000. "Block Rate Pricing of Water in Indonesia: An Analysis of Welfare Effects," Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(3), pages 73-92.
    37. Hearne, Robert R. & William Easter, K., 1997. "The economic and financial gains from water markets in Chile," Agricultural Economics, Blackwell, vol. 15(3), pages 187-199, January.
    38. R. Quentin Grafton & Michael B. Ward, 2008. "Prices versus Rationing: Marshallian Surplus and Mandatory Water Restrictions," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 84(s1), pages 57-65, September.
    39. Burtless, Gary & Hausman, Jerry A, 1978. "The Effect of Taxation on Labor Supply: Evaluating the Gary Negative Income Tax Experiments," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 86(6), pages 1103-1130, December.
    40. Winston, Clifford, 1985. "Conceptual Development in the Economics of Transportation: An Interpretive Survey," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 23(1), pages 57-94, March.
    41. Robert A. Collinge, 1994. "Transferable Rate Entitlements: the Overlooked Opportunity in Municipal Water Pricing," Public Finance Review, , vol. 22(1), pages 46-64, January.
    42. Moffitt, Robert, 1990. "The Econometrics of Kinked Budget Constraints," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 4(2), pages 119-139, Spring.
    43. Ellen M. Pint, 1999. "Household Responses to Increased Water Rates during the California Drought," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 75(2), pages 246-266.
    44. De Vany, Arthur S & Walls, W David, 1999. "Price Dynamics in a Network of Decentralized Power Markets," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 15(2), pages 123-140, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Olmstead, Sheila & Stavins, Robert, 2008. "Comparing Price and Non-Price Approaches to Urban Water Conservation," Working Paper Series rwp08-034, Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government.
    2. Sheila M. Olmstead, 2010. "The Economics of Managing Scarce Water Resources," Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 4(2), pages 179-198, Summer.
    3. Olmstead, Sheila M. & Michael Hanemann, W. & Stavins, Robert N., 2007. "Water demand under alternative price structures," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 54(2), pages 181-198, September.
    4. Darío F. Jiménez & Sergio A. Orrego & Felipe A. Vásquez & Roberto D. Ponce, 2017. "Estimating water demand for urban residential use using a discrete-continuous model and disaggregated data at the household level: the case of the city of Manizales, Colombia," Lecturas de Economía, Universidad de Antioquia, Departamento de Economía, issue 86, pages 153-178, Enero - J.
    5. Stavins, Robert & Hanemann, W. Michael & Olmstead, Sheila, 2005. "Do Consumers React to the Shape of Supply? Water Demand under Heterogeneous Price Structures," RFF Working Paper Series dp-05-29, Resources for the Future.
    6. Jiménez, Darío F. & Orrego, Sergio A. & Vásquez, Felipe A. & Ponce, Roberto D., 2016. "Estimación de la demanda de agua para uso residencial urbano usando un modelo discreto-continuo y datos desagregados a nivel de hogar: el caso de la ciudad de Manizales, Colombia," Revista Lecturas de Economía, Universidad de Antioquia, CIE, issue 86, pages 153-178, December.
    7. Henrique Monteiro, 2010. "Residential Water Demand in Portugal: checking for efficiency-based justifications for increasing block tariffs," Working Papers Series 1 ercwp0110, ISCTE-IUL, Business Research Unit (BRU-IUL).
    8. Wang, Xiangrui & Lee, Jukwan & Yan, Jia & Thompson, Gary D., 2017. "Modeling Rational But Inattentive Consumer’s Residential Water Demand," 2017 Annual Meeting, July 30-August 1, Chicago, Illinois 258555, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    9. Kenneth A. Baerenklau & María Pérez-Urdiales, 2019. "Can Allocation-Based Water Rates Promote Conservation and Increase Welfare? A California Case Study," Water Economics and Policy (WEP), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 5(02), pages 1-26, April.
    10. Baerenklau, Kenneth A., 2015. "Theoretically consistent welfare estimation under block pricing: the case of water demand," 2015 AAEA & WAEA Joint Annual Meeting, July 26-28, San Francisco, California 205723, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    11. Stavins, Robert, 2003. "Market-Based Environmental Policies: What Can We Learn from U.S. Experience and Related Research?," Working Paper Series rwp03-031, Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government.
    12. Kenneth A. Baerenklau & Kurt A. Schwabe & Ariel Dinar, 2014. "The Residential Water Demand Effect of Increasing Block Rate Water Budgets," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 90(4), pages 683-699.
    13. Aaron Strong & V. Kerry Smith, 2010. "Reconsidering the Economics of Demand Analysis with Kinked Budget Constraints," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 86(1), pages 173-190.
    14. Céline Nauges & Dale Whittington, 2010. "Estimation of Water Demand in Developing Countries: An Overview," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 25(2), pages 263-294, August.
    15. Wang, Xiangrui & Lee, Jukwan & Yan, Jia & Thompson, Gary D., 2018. "Testing the behavior of rationally inattentive consumers in a residential water market," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 344-359.
    16. Koji Miyawaki & Yasuhiro Omori & Akira Hibiki, 2011. "Panel Data Analysis Of Japanese Residential Water Demand Using A Discrete/Continuous Choice Approach," The Japanese Economic Review, Japanese Economic Association, vol. 62(3), pages 365-386, September.
    17. Zhang, Zibin & Cai, Wenxin & Feng, Xiangzhao, 2017. "How do urban households in China respond to increasing block pricing in electricity? Evidence from a fuzzy regression discontinuity approach," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 161-172.
    18. Milan Ščasný & Šarlota Smutná, 2021. "Estimation of price and income elasticity of residential water demand in the Czech Republic over three decades," Journal of Consumer Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 55(2), pages 580-608, June.
    19. Baerenklau, Kenneth A. & Schwabe, Kurt & Dinar, Ariel, 2014. "Do Increasing Block Rate Water Budgets Reduce Residential Water Demand? A Case Study in Southern California," 2014 Annual Meeting, July 27-29, 2014, Minneapolis, Minnesota 170019, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    20. María Ángeles García-Valiñas & Sara Suárez-Fernández, 2022. "Are Economic Tools Useful to Manage Residential Water Demand? A Review of Old Issues and Emerging Topics," Post-Print hal-04067487, HAL.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • L51 - Industrial Organization - - Regulation and Industrial Policy - - - Economics of Regulation
    • L95 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Transportation and Utilities - - - Gas Utilities; Pipelines; Water Utilities
    • Q25 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Renewable Resources and Conservation - - - Water
    • Q28 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Renewable Resources and Conservation - - - Government Policy
    • Q58 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Environmental Economics: Government Policy

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:13513. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/nberrus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.