Towards the development of a transferable set of value estimates for environmental attributes

Estimates of environmental values are frequently required as inputs to cost-benefit analyses when evaluating alternative options for managing natural resources. One strategy to avoid the high cost of conducting empirical work when non-market values are involved is to use value estimates from an existing source study and to transfer them to the target context of interest (a practice known as benefit transfer). However, the transfer of values is subject to a host of potential errors and could lead to significant overestimation or underestimation of welfare change. The present paper reports the results of a choice modelling study in which household values for the impacts of land and water degradation in Australia are estimated. A key objective of the present study was to test the validity of transferring estimates derived in a national context to different regional contexts. On the basis of these test results, inferences are made about the impact that differing contexts have on value estimates. The scale of value differences across the different contexts provides a guide for calibrating benefit transfer estimates.