Resumen de Heterogeneity in irrigators’ wtp and wta for water reliability

Anastasio José Villanueva Rodríguez, José Antonio Gómez-Limón Rodríguez

• This paper is focused on the valuation of irrigation water supply reliability. We assess WTP and WTA for improvements and worsenings in irrigation water supply reliability, checking for the first time the disparity between average WTA and average WTP for this attribute of irrigation water supply. This assessment relies on a field experiment among farmers in an irrigated area located in southern Spain that is suffering a serious deterioration of water supply reliability because of climate change. Results obtained show average WTP estimates for moderate and significant improvements are €16.5 and €18.5/ha/year, respectively, while the average WTA estimates for moderate and significant worsenings are €765.6 and €881.1/ha/year. This indicates a very high WTA/WTP ratio of 46.4 and 47.6 for moderate and significant changes, much higher than those obtained in previous studies. Possible reasons which may explain such a disparity include reasons within neoclassical economic theory and endowment ...