Enhancing the reliability of benefit transfer over heterogeneous sites: A meta-analysis of international coral reef values

We estimate a meta-analysis of willingness to pay for tropical coral reef recreation and evaluate its potential for international benefit transfer. The goal is improved value surface estimation and benefit transfer reliability. We compare model results to those of Brander, L., P. van Beukering and H. Cesar. 2007. The recreational value of coral reefs: A meta-analysis. Ecological Economics, 63(1), to our knowledge the only prior published meta-analysis of coral reef values. We seek to improve upon this prior model through (1) stricter attendance to methodological guidance in the meta-analysis literature, (2) greater attention to metadata uniformity, and (3) supplementation of primary study metadata with additional information obtained through secondary sources, such as information on reef characteristics from international coral reef databases. The estimated models provide value surface insights unavailable elsewhere and improve benefit transfer reliability. Results also highlight challenges in benefit transfer across heterogeneous sites and provide insight into the relevance of welfare consistency for meta-analysis. While the analysis suggests that substantial improvements in transfer reliability may be achieved through closer adherence to guidance from the meta-analysis literature, resulting transfers may still be subject to considerable errors.