Application des principes de l'économie de l'environnement à la gestion des hydrosystèmes

Using the principles of environmental economics to manage water resources

INRA Economie, 4 allée Adolphe Bobierre, CS 61103, 35011 Rennes Cedex, France

Auteur de correspondance : bonnieux@roazhon.inra.fr

Abstract

When there are externalities, a competitive market equilibrium is generally inefficient and therefore should be corrected by government intervention. This can relies on price rationing (e.g. pollution tax) or quantity rationing (e.g. marketable permits). Because of the absence of markets for most environmental goods and services, specific methods have been developed to put values on costs and benefits resulting from public policies. Indirect methods (e.g. travel cost method) seek to recover estimates of individuals willingness to pay for environmental quality by observing their behaviour in related markets, while contingent valuation method uses surveys to ask respondents about their monetary values for non-market goods. The later method is more flexible and apply to non-use value. Nevertheless, the reliability of contingent valuation continues to be a subject of debate.