The effect of consequentiality on the residents’ willingness to pay for the governance of Ulva prolifera bloom in Qingdao, China

Abstract

Ulva (U.) prolifera bloom has huge negative impacts on the economy and the environment, has been an important marine environmental problem in China. The study applies contingent valuation method to investigate public preferences for the management of U. prolifera bloom. The results show that the median of residents’ willingness to pay (WTP) are 40 CNY/a for the scenario that U. prolifera bloom would disappear completely in the Yellow Sea coastal area around Qingdao, and the median of WTP are the same (22.5 CNY/a) for the three scenarios that focused on the cover area, duration times, and offshore distance of U. prolifera bloom, respectively. Additionally, this paper explores whether the belief, which respondents believe that their response will be taken into consideration by the government, contributes to revealing their preferences truthfully. The results show that most respondents believe that their response is consequential in policy and payment outcomes. The belief in policy and payment consequentiality are largely positively correlated, and show a similar influence on the willingness to pay. This study provides important implications on the economic assessment of the damages caused by U. prolifera bloom, and agrees on the importance of consequentiality, but does not provide the support for separately addressing policy and payment consequentiality in the contingent valuation.