Browsing by Author "Ellis, S.F."

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    Consumer Perceptions After Long Term Use or Alternative Irrigation Water: An Israeli Field Experiment
    (Department of Applied Economics and Statistics, University of Delaware, Newark, DE., 2020-03) Ellis, S.F.; Kecinski, Maik; Messer, Kent D.; Lipchin, Clive
    This study provides the first revealed preference estimates of Israeli’s willingness-to-pay for produce irrigated with alternative water. It also investigates how exposure to information about the benefits and risks of recycled water affects these preferences. Results show that Israeli’s prefer produce irrigated with conventional water over any type of alternative water, and that preferences for alternative water varies by type. Exposure to information about the risks of recycled water increases consumers’ willingness-to-pay for produce irrigated with desalinated water. These results indicate there may be limits to how high consumer demand for alternative water can rise even after long term implementation.
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    Gaps in Risk Perceptions Between the United States and Israel: Field Experiments on Various Types of Nontraditional Water
    (Department of Applied Economics and Statistics, University of Delaware, Newark, DE., 2018-08) Ellis, S.F.; Kecinski, M.; Messer, K.D.; Lipchin, C.
    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.
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    Mitigating Stigma Associated with Recycled Water: Aquifer Recharge and Trophic Levels
    (Department of Applied Economics and Statistics, University of Delaware, Newark, DE., 2020-06) Ellis, S.F.; Savchenko, Olesya M.; Messer, Kent D.
    Stigmatization of water and food products can constrain markets and prevent the implementation of scientifically safe solutions to environmental problems, such as water scarcity. Recycled water can be a cost-effective, dependable, and safe solution to water shortages, however, consumers generally either require a large reduction in price to purchase and eat products made with recycled water or reject such products outright. If emerging sustainable agricultural technologies, such as recycled water are to be used to address growing water shortages worldwide, policymakers and industry stakeholders must identify effective strategies for mitigating stigma. Using field experiments involving 1,420 adult participants, we test the effectiveness of two stigma-mitigating techniques. We also successfully demonstrate a novel twist to the collection of representative samples in non-hypothetical experimental settings and compare the results to a more traditional field experiment that recruited participants at a large public gathering. The analysis of these different samples suggests a common finding: passing recycled water through a natural barrier, such as an aquifer, removes the stigma consumers would otherwise attach to it. We also find that the trophic level an organism occupies in the food chain influences stigmatizing behavior. The greater the steps in the food chain between an organism and the use of recycled water, the less it is stigmatized. These results have important implications for efforts to promote large-scale potable and non-potable recycled water projects and the use of recycled water in the agricultural industry.