Application of Willingness-to-Pay Methods to Value Transport Externalities in Less Developed Countries

Abstract

In this paper we report on two applications of the willingness-to-pay (WTP) approach to valuing transport externalities in Santiago, Chile. The first involves a contingent valuation study of mortality risk due in part to pollution-related causes, and the second, a stated preference study for valuing the reduction of risk from road fatalities. It is concluded that the approaches, and particularly that based on stated choice methods, offer practical and consistent methods of establishing unit values in higher-income developing countries. The unit values derived from the WTP methods appear to justify a greater allocation of resources to safety and pollution countermeasures compared with those derived from more traditional approaches.