ASSESSMENT OF SOCIAL PREFERENCES FOR AN ALTERNATIVE REGENERATION COASTLINES AGAINST A MARINA IN TEIS (VIGO)

The important presence of marinas in the Galician coast and the likely increase in docking spaces in the near future make it necessary to analyze their effects on social welfare. Consequently, the adding of social costs in Cost-Benefit Analysis is useful and necessary to achieve an efficient allocation of available resources. In this article, the contingent valuation method was applied to estimate willingness to pay (WTP) of residents for a coastal regeneration plan, confronted to a project of marina extension in Punta Lagoa (Teis, Vigo). To analyze the answers a parametric estimation was carried out, and also a non parametric estimation to avoid assumptions about the functional form of the willingness to pay function. The estimations obtained show a WTP of 48 €/household, and 34 €/household, respectively. These results allow us to conclude that the regeneration plan provides a social welfare gain compared to the marina extension project, that is, there is a social cost associated to this last project. Moreover, from the results and from the advantages of Turnbull estimator, the use of non parametric estimation methodologies, to obtain estimators based on contingent valuation data, should increase.