Abstract

CUEVAS-ALVARADO, Cristóbal M. et al. Econometric estimation of the income elasticity of consumer demand for environmental services. Rev. Chapingo ser. cienc. for. ambient [online]. 2016, vol.22, n.3, pp.369-377. ISSN 2007-4018.  https://doi.org/10.5154/r.rchscfa.2015.07.030.

The aim of this research was to estimate the income elasticity of willingness to pay of consumers of environmental services provided by the Basaltic Prisms recreational park in the municipality of Huasca de Ocampo, state of Hidalgo, Mexico. The importance of the study lies in the resulting environmental policy recommendations to make the Basaltic Prisms ecosystem economically sustainable by charging differential entrance fees to it. The methodology used was consumer segmentation with the two-step cluster analysis model. The main finding was the identification of three types of consumers, where low-income consumers have a greater willingness to pay for potential improvements in the park’s recreational services than those with a higher income. The results indicate that, among the three types of consumers, the income elasticity of the willingness to pay for potential improvements in the quality of recreational services is less than unity and greater than zero. That is, recreational services are a normal good. This result is relevant and consistent with those reported in other studies.

Keywords : Cluster analysis; probability model; environmental policy; multivariate typology; compensating variation..