ABSTRACT
As we learned in Chapter 5, benefits transfer may be characterized as the “practice of taking and adapting value estimates from past research … and using them … to assess the value of a similar, but separate, change in a different resource”
Introduction ..............................................................................................................95 Benefit Functions and Meta-Analysis ......................................................................97 Case Study Data and Conceptual Approach ............................................................98 The Empirical Model and Results .......................................................................... 106 Specifying and Applying the Benefit Function ...................................................... 106 Challenges and Concerns ....................................................................................... 111
Sensitivity of Function-Based Benefits Transfer to Study Methodology ..... 111 Reconciliation of Environmental Quality Measures ..................................... 112 Magnitude of Transfer Error ......................................................................... 113
Defining Affected Populations .......................................................... 113 Conclusion ............................................................................................................. 114 Appendix: Details of the Model and Estimated Results ........................................ 114
Links to Underlying Utility .......................................................................... 114 Econometric Model and Results ................................................................... 115 Systematic Components of WTP: Resource Attributes ................................ 116 Systematic Components of WTP: Geographical and Water Body Type
Attributes .......................................................................................... 116 Systematic Components of WTP: Population Attributes .............................. 117 Systematic Components of WTP: Study Attributes ...................................... 117
Acknowledgment ................................................................................................... 118 Notes ...................................................................................................................... 119 References .............................................................................................................. 119
(Smith et al. 2002, p. 134). It involves adapting research conducted for another purpose to estimate values within a particular policy context (Bergstrom and De Civita 1999). Although primary research methods are generally considered to be superior to benefits transfer, resource or data constraints often render benefits transfer the only viable means to estimate nonmarket values. Benefits transfer methods may be placed into three general categories: (1) transfer of an unadjusted fixed-value estimate generated from a single study; (2) the use of expert judgment to aggregate or otherwise alter benefits to be transferred from a site or set of sites; and (3) estimation of a value estimator model or benefits transfer function, often based on data gathered from multiple sites (Bergstrom and De Civita 1999). Given the generally unreliable performance of unadjusted single-site transfers, researchers are increasingly considering approaches that allow welfare measures to be adjusted for characteristics of the policy context using the last two methods (Johnston et al. 2005; U.S. Environmental Protection Agency [USEPA] 2000).
