The welfare costs of urban outdoor water restrictions |
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Authors: | Donna Brennan Sorada Tapsuwan Gordon Ingram |
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Institution: | School of Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA; Policy and Economics Research Unit, CSIRO Land and Water, Floreat Laboratory, WA |
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Abstract: | Outdoor water restrictions are usually implemented as bans on a particular type of watering technology (sprinklers), which allow households to substitute for labour-intensive (hand-held) watering. This paper presents a household production model approach to analysing the impact of sprinkler restrictions on consumer welfare and their efficacy as a demand management tool. Central to our empirical analysis is an experimentally derived production function which describes the relationship between irrigation and lawn quality. We demonstrate that for a typical consumer complete sprinkler bans may be little more effective than milder restrictions policies, but are substantially more costly to the household. |
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Keywords: | household model urban water demand urban water restrictions |
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