Discussions about applied Cost Benefit Analysis are incomplete without the thorny issue of discounting emerging at some point. Indeed, since the calculation of Net Present Values (NPV), and hence the efficiency of a project or policy, hinges so crucially upon the level of the discount rate...

In this chapter a ‘watershed economics approach’ that could be applied in Cyprus is proposed which is composed of two important stages. In Stage I economic valuation techniques are used to establish the economic value of the competing demands for surface and groundwater, incorporating where...

The scarcity of water resources in both arid and temperate countries alike is one of the most pervasive natural resource allocation problems facing water users and policy-makers. In arid countries this problem is faced each day in the myriad of conflicts that surround its use.Water scarcity is a...

This paper reviews the arguments for and the implications of employing Declining Discount Rates (DDRs) in CBA and in the analysis of economic growth and sustainability. We show that there exist several growth models in which a relationship has been found between the long-run equilibrium under...

Agriculture contributes negative and positive externalities to society, that is, beneficial and detrimental changes in human wellbeing to third parties for which they are not generally compensated or charged. Beneficial externalities include the creation of amenity and landscape and negative...

Concepts, theoretical principles and econometric approaches are interrelated throughout the chapters of this book, but generalizations are not so straightforward. One reason why that is although the range of empirical contexts represented is broad, the crops and countries studied were selected...

This chapter reviews several noteworthy applications of the choice experiment method undertaken in the European Union (EU) countries to this date. The review summarises choice experiment studies implemented in various EU countries, covering a wide geographical area, including those EU countries...

The issue of groundwater management remains a practical concern in many regions throughout the world, while water managers continue to grapple with the question of how to manage this resource. In this article, we attempt to bring the most advanced and appropriate tools to bear on the issue of...

This paper presents the results of a Choice Experiment (CE) conducted to estimate the values derived from a highway construction project in Greece. To account for preference heterogeneity conditional logit with interactions and random parameter logit models are estimated. The results indicate...

This book aims to show that economics in general and non market valuation methods in particular, together with participatory and engineering tools, can facilitate the design and implementation of the different European policies in relation to mitigation of water stress. The results presented in...