Economic Values of Coastal Erosion Management: Joint Estimation of Use and Existence Values with recreation demand and contingent valuation data

Abstract

Revealed and stated preference survey data from North Carolina households are utilized to estimate structural micro-econometric models of recreation demand and willingness-to-pay (WTP) for coastal erosion management among beach visitors and non-visitors. We test for and reject weak complementarity, implying existence values associated with management of North Carolina’s beaches. We find stronger preferences for shoreline retreat (median WTP = $22.20 per household, per year) as a management strategy relative to beach nourishment (WTP = $7.91), and we find substantially weaker preferences for shoreline armoring (WTP = $0.09). Shoreline retreat exhibits much larger estimates of existence values, whereas existence values for shoreline armoring are negative. Our data permit estimates of marginal value of incremental beach width accruing to beach users and non-users (which range from $0.23 and $0.48 per meter).