Gaps in Risk Perceptions Between the United States and Israel: Field Experiments on Various Types of Nontraditional Water

Date
2018-08
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Department of Applied Economics and Statistics, University of Delaware, Newark, DE.
Abstract
In the first half of 2018, approximately 31% of the continental United States was experiencing some level of drought, conditions that are predicted to spread as climate change hastens shifts in the global water cycle. Despite nontraditional water being a cost-effective, safe, and commonly proposed solution for inadequate water supplies, broad adoption of nontraditional irrigation water at the farm level in the United States and across the world will depend on consumer acceptance of such practices. This study utilized field experiments in the United States and Israel to examine consumer preferences in two countries that are heterogenous in terms of the impacts of drought and experience level. We investigate how consumers respond to different types of nontraditional water and if exposure to scientific information about the benefits and risks of recycled water affects these preferences. The results suggest that Israeli consumers are significantly more accepting than U.S. consumers of produce irrigated with nontraditional water. We also find that the use of nontraditional water diminishes consumer demand by 87% in the United States and 20% in Israel, and that reductions in WTP vary by water type in both countries.
Description
Keywords
Nontraditional water, Recycled water, Stigma, Cosumer willingness-to-pay, Food labeling, Field experiments, Irrigation water
Citation