International Public Preferences and Provision of Public Goods: Assessment of Passive Use Values in Large Oil Spills

With global media reporting major environmental disasters, environmental damages linked to large oil spills may go well beyond the territorial limits of affected countries, particularly in the case of passive use values. In this analysis, we compare environmental damages linked a large oil spill off the coast of Spain using an online contingent valuation survey in three different European countries: Spain, UK, and Austria. Our results show that mean willingness to pay in Spain is about 124.37€/household, 80.87€/household in the UK, and 89.08€/household for Austria (expressed in 2009 prices). Conclusions and implications of our results suggest policy makers should consider the potential importance of passive use values in the compensation process of environmental damages caused by large international oil spills, especially within the European Union.

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