IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/asieco/v23y2012i4p374-382.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Managing a scarce resource in a growing Asian economy: Water usage in Hong Kong

Author

Listed:
  • Woo, Chi-Keung
  • Wong, Wing-Keung
  • Horowitz, Ira
  • Chan, Hing-Lin

Abstract

An econometric analysis of Hong Kong's monthly per capita water usage for the 25-year period of April 1985 through March 2010 reveals that per capita usage is insensitive to price but dependent upon past usage, per capita income, weather, and seasonal factors, with rising income countering what would otherwise be a downward trend. Given Hong Kong's current inflationary environment and large government budget surplus, these findings affirm the Hong Kong Water Supplies Department's adopted strategy of total water management towards sustainable use of water resources, in lieu of either periodic service interruption or price increases as policy instruments.

Suggested Citation

  • Woo, Chi-Keung & Wong, Wing-Keung & Horowitz, Ira & Chan, Hing-Lin, 2012. "Managing a scarce resource in a growing Asian economy: Water usage in Hong Kong," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 23(4), pages 374-382.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:asieco:v:23:y:2012:i:4:p:374-382
    DOI: 10.1016/j.asieco.2012.03.007
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1049007812000413
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.asieco.2012.03.007?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. S. Gaudin, 2006. "Effect of price information on residential water demand," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(4), pages 383-393.
    2. Arbues, Fernando & Garcia-Valinas, Maria Angeles & Martinez-Espineira, Roberto, 2003. "Estimation of residential water demand: a state-of-the-art review," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 81-102, March.
    3. Ida Ferrara, 2008. "Residential Water Use," OECD Journal: General Papers, OECD Publishing, vol. 2008(2), pages 153-180.
    4. R. Quentin Grafton & Michael B. Ward, 2008. "Prices versus Rationing: Marshallian Surplus and Mandatory Water Restrictions," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 84(s1), pages 57-65, September.
    5. Woo, Chi-Keung, 1994. "Managing water supply shortage : Interruption vs. pricing," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(1), pages 145-160, May.
    6. Woo, Chi-Keung & Lo, Kenneth W. K., 1993. "Factor supply interruption, welfare loss and shortage management," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 15(4), pages 339-351, December.
    7. Shalizi, Zmarak, 2006. "Addressing China's growing water shortages and associated social and environmental consequences," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3895, The World Bank.
    8. C. Woo & J. Zarnikau & E. Kollman, 2012. "Exact welfare measurement for double-log demand with partial adjustment," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 42(1), pages 171-180, February.
    9. Martí, Luisa & Puertas, Rosa & Fernández, J. Ismael, 2011. "Industrial productivity and convergence in Chinese regions: The effects of entering the world trade organisation," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(2), pages 128-141, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Katrin Millock & Céline Nauges, 2010. "Household Adoption of Water-Efficient Equipment: The Role of Socio-Economic Factors, Environmental Attitudes and Policy," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 46(4), pages 539-565, August.
    2. R. Quentin Grafton & Tom Kompas & Hang To & Michael Ward, 2009. "Residential Water Consumption: A Cross Country Analysis," Environmental Economics Research Hub Research Reports 0923, Environmental Economics Research Hub, Crawford School of Public Policy, The Australian National University, revised Aug 2009.
    3. David Roibás & M. García-Valiñas & Alan Wall, 2007. "Measuring welfare losses from interruption and pricing as responses to water shortages: an application to the case of Seville," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 38(2), pages 231-243, October.
    4. María Ángeles García-Valiñas & Sara Suárez-Fernández, 2022. "Are Economic Tools Useful to Manage Residential Water Demand? A Review of Old Issues and Emerging Topics," Post-Print hal-04067487, HAL.
    5. Acuña, Guillermo, 2017. "Elasticidades de la demanda de agua en Chile [Elasticities of water demand in Chile]," MPRA Paper 82916, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Marie-Estelle Binet & Fabrizio Carlevaro & Michel Paul, 2014. "Estimation of Residential Water Demand with Imperfect Price Perception," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 59(4), pages 561-581, December.
    7. Patrícia Moura e Sá & Rita Martins, 2015. "Perceções dos Consumidores Domésticos acerca das Faturas de Água," Notas Económicas, Faculty of Economics, University of Coimbra, issue 42, pages 30-48, December.
    8. Schleich, Joachim & Hillenbrand, Thomas, 2009. "Determinants of residential water demand in Germany," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(6), pages 1756-1769, April.
    9. Nauges,Celine & Van Den Berg,Caroline, 2006. "Water markets, demand, and cost recovery for piped water supply services : evidence from Southwest Sri Lanka," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3941, The World Bank.
    10. Freire-González, Jaume & Decker, Christopher & Hall, Jim W., 2017. "The Economic Impacts of Droughts: A Framework for Analysis," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 196-204.
    11. C. Woo & J. Zarnikau & E. Kollman, 2012. "Exact welfare measurement for double-log demand with partial adjustment," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 42(1), pages 171-180, February.
    12. Sheila M. Olmstead, 2010. "The Economics of Managing Scarce Water Resources," Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 4(2), pages 179-198, Summer.
    13. Vallés-Giménez, Jaime & Zárate-Marco , Anabel, 2013. "Environmental taxation and industrial water use in Spain," INVESTIGACIONES REGIONALES - Journal of REGIONAL RESEARCH, Asociación Española de Ciencia Regional, issue 25, pages 133-162.
    14. David Roibas & Maria A. Garcia-Valiñas & Roberto Fernandez-Llera, 2019. "Measuring the Impact of Water Supply Interruptions on Household Welfare," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 73(1), pages 159-179, May.
    15. Worthington, Andrew C., 2010. "Commercial and Industrial Water Demand Estimation: Theoretical and Methodological Guidelines for Applied Economics Research/Estimación de la demanda de agua comercial e industrial: pautas teóricas y m," Estudios de Economia Aplicada, Estudios de Economia Aplicada, vol. 28, pages 237-258, Agosto.
    16. Guillermo Ignacio Acuña & Cristián Echeverría & Alex Godoy & Felipe Vásquez, 2020. "The role of climate variability in convergence of residential water consumption across Chilean localities," Environmental Economics and Policy Studies, Springer;Society for Environmental Economics and Policy Studies - SEEPS, vol. 22(1), pages 89-108, January.
    17. Woo, C.K. & Cao, K.H. & Zarnikau, J. & Yip, T.L. & Chow, A., 2021. "What moves Hong Kong's train ridership?," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    18. Céline Nauges & Dale Whittington, 2010. "Estimation of Water Demand in Developing Countries: An Overview," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 25(2), pages 263-294, August.
    19. Productivity Commission, 2008. "Towards Urban Water Reform: A Discussion Paper," Research Papers 0801, Productivity Commission, Government of Australia.
    20. Jean-Daniel Rinaudo & Noémie Neverre & Marielle Montginoul, 2012. "Simulating the Impact of Pricing Policies on Residential Water Demand: A Southern France Case Study," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 26(7), pages 2057-2068, May.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Hong Kong; Water-usage elasticity; Demand-side management; Price elasticity; Partial-adjustment regression model;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C23 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Models with Panel Data; Spatio-temporal Models
    • D12 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
    • H42 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - Publicly Provided Private Goods
    • L95 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Transportation and Utilities - - - Gas Utilities; Pipelines; Water Utilities
    • O18 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Urban, Rural, Regional, and Transportation Analysis; Housing; Infrastructure
    • Q25 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Renewable Resources and Conservation - - - Water
    • Q32 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Nonrenewable Resources and Conservation - - - Exhaustible Resources and Economic Development

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:asieco:v:23:y:2012:i:4:p:374-382. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/asieco .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.