Economic Valuation of the Aquatic Biodiversity Conservation in South Korea: Correcting for the Endogeneity Bias in Contingent Valuation

verfasst von

Ik Chang Choi, Hyun No Kim, Hio Jung Shin, John Tenhunen, Trung Thanh Nguyen

Abstract

In this study, we use the Contingent Valuation (CV) method to estimate households' willingness to pay (WTP) for the aquatic ecosystem health (biodiversity) improvement. This paper extends CV studies by dealing with the endogenous effect of a proxy variable, namely the subjective experience of negative environmental quality changes. The results show that the correction for the endogeneity bias facilitates the efficiency of parameter estimation in the empirical model. The mean WTP per household accounts for around 46.8% (KRW 79.6) of the current water use charge (KRW 170 per cubic meter). The total benefit from conserving the biodiversity is around KRW 198.62 billion. We found several factors that affect households' WTP for fish biodiversity conservation, suggesting the importance of these factors in the formulation of water policies associated with aquatic biodiversity. In addition, the inefficient water management costs should be redistributed to other projects or new programs such as for the fish biodiversity conservation.

Organisationseinheit(en)

Institut für Umweltökonomik und Welthandel

Externe Organisation(en)

Universität Bayreuth
Korea Environment Institute (KEI)
Kangwon National University

Typ

Artikel

Journal

Sustainability (Switzerland)

Band

9

ISSN

2071-1050

Publikationsdatum

02.06.2017

Publikationsstatus

Veröffentlicht

Peer-reviewed

Ja

ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete

Geografie, Planung und Entwicklung, Erneuerbare Energien, Nachhaltigkeit und Umwelt, Management, Monitoring, Politik und Recht

Ziele für nachhaltige Entwicklung

SDG 6 – Sauberes Wasser und sanitäre Einrichtungen, SDG 7 – Erschwingliche und saubere Energie

Elektronische Version(en)

https://doi.org/10.3390/su9060930 (Zugang: Offen)