IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ecl/harjfk/rwp05-039.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Do Consumers React to the Shape of Supply? Water Demand Under Heterogeneous Price Structures

Author

Listed:
  • Olmstead, Sheila

    (Yale U)

  • Hanemann, Michael

    (U of California, Berkeley)

  • Stavins, Robert

    (Harvard U and Resources for the Future)

Abstract

We perform an empirical analysis of the influence of price and price structure on residential water demand, using the most price-diverse, detailed, household-level water demand data yet available for this purpose. Ours is the first analysis to address both the simultaneous determination of marginal price and water demand under block pricing, and the possibility of endogenous price structures in the cross section. We find that households facing increasing block prices may be more sensitive to price increases than households facing uniform marginal prices. Tests for endogenous price structures cannot rule out a behavioral response to the shape of supply, but suggest that observed differences in price elasticity under supply curves of varying shapes may result, in part, from underlying heterogeneity among utility service areas.

Suggested Citation

  • Olmstead, Sheila & Hanemann, Michael & Stavins, Robert, 2005. "Do Consumers React to the Shape of Supply? Water Demand Under Heterogeneous Price Structures," Working Paper Series rwp05-039, Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government.
    • Handle: RePEc:ecl:harjfk:rwp05-039
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://research.hks.harvard.edu/publications/workingpapers/citation.aspx?PubId=3028&type=WPN
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Heim, Bradley T. & Meyer, Bruce D., 2004. "Work costs and nonconvex preferences in the estimation of labor supply models," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(11), pages 2323-2338, September.
    2. Burtless, Gary & Hausman, Jerry A, 1978. "The Effect of Taxation on Labor Supply: Evaluating the Gary Negative Income Tax Experiments," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 86(6), pages 1103-1130, December.
    3. Jasper M. Dalhuisen & Raymond J. G. M. Florax & JHenri L. F. de Groot & Peter Nijkamp, 2003. "Price and Income Elasticities of Residential Water Demand: A Meta-Analysis," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 79(2), pages 292-308.
    4. Montgomery, W. David, 1972. "Markets in licenses and efficient pollution control programs," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 5(3), pages 395-418, December.
    5. Blundell, Richard & Macurdy, Thomas, 1999. "Labor supply: A review of alternative approaches," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 27, pages 1559-1695, Elsevier.
    6. Julie A. Hewitt & W. Michael Hanemann, 1995. "A Discrete/Continuous Choice Approach to Residential Water Demand under Block Rate Pricing," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 71(2), pages 173-192.
    7. R. Bruce Billings & Donald E. Agthe, 1980. "Price Elasticities for Water: A Case of Increasing Block Rates," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 56(1), pages 73-84.
    8. Blomquist, Soren & Eklof, Matias & Newey, Whitney, 2001. "Tax reform evaluation using non-parametric methods: Sweden 1980-1991," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(3), pages 543-568, March.
    9. Moffitt, Robert, 1986. "The Econometrics of Piecewise-Linear Budget Constraints: A Survey and Exposition of the Maximum Likelihood Method," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 4(3), pages 317-328, July.
    10. Hausman, Jerry A., 1985. "Taxes and labor supply," Handbook of Public Economics, in: A. J. Auerbach & M. Feldstein (ed.), Handbook of Public Economics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 4, pages 213-263, Elsevier.
    11. Moffitt, Robert, 1990. "The Econometrics of Kinked Budget Constraints," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 4(2), pages 119-139, Spring.
    12. James E. T. Moncur & Richard L. Pollock, 1988. "Scarcity Rents for Water: A Valuation and Pricing Model," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 64(1), pages 62-72.
    13. Peter C. Reiss & Matthew W. White, 2001. "Household Electricity Demand, Revisited," NBER Working Papers 8687, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    14. Ellen M. Pint, 1999. "Household Responses to Increased Water Rates during the California Drought," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 75(2), pages 246-266.
    15. Bruce D. Meyer & Bradley T. Heim, 2004. "Structural Labor Supply Models when Budget Constraints are Nonlinear," Econometric Society 2004 North American Winter Meetings 567, Econometric Society.
    16. Baumol,William J. & Oates,Wallace E., 1988. "The Theory of Environmental Policy," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521322249.
    17. R. E. Hall, 1970. "Wages, Income and Hours of Work in the U. S. Labor Force," Working papers 62, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Department of Economics.
    18. Michael L. Nieswiadomy & David J. Molina, 1989. "Comparing Residential Water Demand Estimates under Decreasing and Increasing Block Rates Using Household Data," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 65(3), pages 280-289.
    19. White, Matthew W. & Reiss, Peter C., 2001. "Household Electricity Demand, Revisited," Research Papers 1715, Stanford University, Graduate School of Business.
    20. John A. Nordin, 1976. "A Proposed Modification of Taylor's Demand Analysis: Comment," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 7(2), pages 719-721, Autumn.
    21. Lester D. Taylor, 1975. "The Demand for Electricity: A Survey," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 6(1), pages 74-110, Spring.
    22. Hausmann, J. A. & Kinnucan, M. & McFaddden, D., 1979. "A two-level electricity demand model : Evaluation of the connecticut time-of-day pricing test," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 10(3), pages 263-289, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Baerenklau, Kenneth A., 2015. "Theoretically consistent welfare estimation under block pricing: the case of water demand," 2015 AAEA & WAEA Joint Annual Meeting, July 26-28, San Francisco, California 205723, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    2. Carlos Medina & Leonardo Fabio Morales, 2007. "Demanda por Servicios Públicos Domiciliarios en Colombia y Subsidios: Implicaciones sobre el Bienestar," Borradores de Economia 467, Banco de la Republica de Colombia.
    3. El-Khattabi, Ahmed Rachid & Eskaf, Shadi & Isnard, Julien P. & Lin, Laurence & McManus, Brian & Yates, Andrew J., 2021. "Heterogeneous responses to price: Evidence from residential water consumers," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 107(C).
    4. E. Strazzera, 2006. "Application of the ML Hausman approach to the demand of water for residential use: heterogeneity vs two-error specification," Working Paper CRENoS 200604, Centre for North South Economic Research, University of Cagliari and Sassari, Sardinia.
    5. Ellen Hanak, 2008. "Is Water Policy Limiting Residential Growth? Evidence from California," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 84(1), pages 31-50.

    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. Olmstead, Sheila M. & Michael Hanemann, W. & Stavins, Robert N., 2007. "Water demand under alternative price structures," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 54(2), pages 181-198, September.
    2. Darío F. Jiménez & Sergio A. Orrego & Felipe A. Vásquez & Roberto D. Ponce, 2017. "Estimating water demand for urban residential use using a discrete-continuous model and disaggregated data at the household level: the case of the city of Manizales, Colombia," Lecturas de Economía, Universidad de Antioquia, Departamento de Economía, issue 86, pages 153-178, Enero - J.
    3. Mansur, Erin T. & Olmstead, Sheila M., 2012. "The value of scarce water: Measuring the inefficiency of municipal regulations," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(3), pages 332-346.
    4. Jiménez, Darío F. & Orrego, Sergio A. & Vásquez, Felipe A. & Ponce, Roberto D., 2016. "Estimación de la demanda de agua para uso residencial urbano usando un modelo discreto-continuo y datos desagregados a nivel de hogar: el caso de la ciudad de Manizales, Colombia," Revista Lecturas de Economía, Universidad de Antioquia, CIE, issue 86, pages 153-178, December.
    5. 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.
    6. Andrew C. Worthington & Mark Hoffman, 2008. "An Empirical Survey Of Residential Water Demand Modelling," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(5), pages 842-871, December.
    7. Anil Kumar, 2012. "Nonparametric estimation of the impact of taxes on female labor supply," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(3), pages 415-439, April.
    8. Corral, Leonardo & Fisher, Anthony C. & Hatch, Nile W., 1999. "Price and Non-Price Influences on Water Conservation: An Econometric Model of Aggregate Demand under Nonlinear Budget Constraint," CUDARE Working Papers 7155, University of California, Berkeley, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics.
    9. Diakité, Daouda & Thomas, Alban, 2011. "La demande domestique d’eau potable : une étude sur un panel de communes ivoiriennes," L'Actualité Economique, Société Canadienne de Science Economique, vol. 87(3), pages 269-299, septembre.
    10. Corral, Leonardo & Fisher, Anthony C. & Hatch, Nile W., 1999. "Price and Non-Price Influences on Water Conservation: An Econometric Model of Aggregate Demand under Nonlinear Budget Constraint," Department of Agricultural & Resource Economics, UC Berkeley, Working Paper Series qt3gx868tg, Department of Agricultural & Resource Economics, UC Berkeley.
    11. 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.
    12. Mónica Maldonado-Devis & Vicent Almenar-Llongo, 2021. "A Panel Data Estimation of Domestic Water Demand with IRT Tariff Structure: The Case of the City of Valencia (Spain)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-26, January.
    13. Kumar, Anil, 2008. "Labor supply, deadweight loss and tax reform act of 1986: A nonparametric evaluation using panel data," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(1-2), pages 236-253, February.
    14. Dinusha Dharmaratna & Edwyna Harris, 2010. "Estimating Residential Water Demand using the Stone-Geary Functional Form: the Case of Sri Lanka," Monash Economics Working Papers 46-10, Monash University, Department of Economics.
    15. Kenneth A. Baerenklau & María Pérez-Urdiales, 2019. "Can Allocation-Based Water Rates Promote Conservation and Increase Welfare? A California Case Study," Water Economics and Policy (WEP), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 5(02), pages 1-26, April.
    16. Ruijs, A. & Zimmermann, A. & van den Berg, M., 2008. "Demand and distributional effects of water pricing policies," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(2-3), pages 506-516, June.
    17. Ming-Feng Hung & Bin-Tzong Chie, 2013. "Residential Water Use: Efficiency, Affordability, and Price Elasticity," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 27(1), pages 275-291, January.
    18. Ming-Feng Hung & Bin-Tzong Chie & Tai-Hsin Huang, 2017. "Residential water demand and water waste in Taiwan," Environmental Economics and Policy Studies, Springer;Society for Environmental Economics and Policy Studies - SEEPS, vol. 19(2), pages 249-268, April.
    19. Dinusha Dharmaratna & Edwyna Harris, 2012. "Estimating Residential Water Demand Using the Stone-Geary Functional Form: The Case of Sri Lanka," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 26(8), pages 2283-2299, June.
    20. Heim, Bradley T. & Meyer, Bruce D., 2004. "Work costs and nonconvex preferences in the estimation of labor supply models," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(11), pages 2323-2338, September.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D12 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
    • Q21 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Renewable Resources and Conservation - - - Demand and Supply; Prices
    • Q25 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Renewable Resources and Conservation - - - Water
    • Q28 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Renewable Resources and Conservation - - - Government Policy
    • L95 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Transportation and Utilities - - - Gas Utilities; Pipelines; Water Utilities

    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:ecl:harjfk:rwp05-039. 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: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ksharus.html .

    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.