Public Willingness to Pay for Continuous and Probabilistic Hazard Information

Wehde, Wesley; Ripberger, Joseph T.; Jenkins-Smith, Hank; Jones, Benjamin A.; Allan, Jinan N.; Silva, Carol L.

doi:10.1061/(ASCE)NH.1527-6996.0000444

i

Public Willingness to Pay for Continuous and Probabilistic Hazard Information

2021
By Wehde, Wesley ; Ripberger, Joseph T. ; Jenkins-Smith, Hank ; ...

Details

Journal Title:

Natural Hazards Review
Personal Author:

Wehde, Wesley ; Ripberger, Joseph T. ; Jenkins-Smith, Hank ; Jones, Benjamin A. ; Allan, Jinan N. ; Silva, Carol L.
NOAA Program & Office:

OAR (Oceanic and Atmospheric Research) ; WPO (Weather Program Office)
Description:

Investments in new weather forecasting technologies and communication products can be costly and serve the ultimate purpose of protecting life and property. The Forecasting a Continuum of Environmental Threats (FACETs) paradigm attempts to improve technology and communication through the provision of probabilistic hazard information (PHI). The research and technology necessary to produce this information requires a substantial resource investment, but the societal value of the information may outweigh the costs. This study provides an initial estimate of this value by exploring public willingness to pay (WTP) for an app that provides continuously updated, geographically situated PHI that could be utilized during a tornado event. Findings indicate that the mean WTP, in a one-time payment, for this precise hazard information product is $7.53 per person. Aggregated to the US population, the estimated value is between $901 million and $1.56 billion. These findings indicate that federal agencies and private companies are likely to generate a substantial surplus by developing these products and will contribute to improving informed decision-making and protecting lives and property.
Keywords:

Weather forecasting Forecasting A Continuum Of Environmental Threats (FACETs) Probabilistic Hazard Information Public Willingness To Pay
Source:

Nat. Hazards Rev., 2021, 22(2): 04021004
DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)NH.1527-6996.0000444
Format:

PDF
Document Type:

Journal Article
License:

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Rights Information:

CC BY
Compliance:

Submitted
Main Document Checksum:

urn:sha-512:3bd596260d52e415c3dffa6541c30cdffd37cfa820ab9a5b1508bf983a0b279cb7f350d99528e697f72c7841c27e5cc3ba07c451fd026406a15997539351d995
Download URL:

https://repository.library.noaa.gov/view/noaa/71979/noaa_71979_DS1.pdf
File Type:

[PDF - 435.09 KB ]

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