Minority households’ willingness to pay for public and private wildfire risk reduction in Florida
Armando González-Cabán A B and José J. Sánchez A
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations
A USDA Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Research Station, 4955 Canyon Crest Drive, Riverside, CA 92507, USA.
B Corresponding author. Email: agonzalezcaban@fs.fed.us
International Journal of Wildland Fire 26(8) 744-753 https://doi.org/10.1071/WF16216
Submitted: 13 July 2016 Accepted: 31 May 2017 Published: 8 August 2017
Abstract
The purpose of this work is to estimate willingness to pay (WTP) for minority (African-American and Hispanic) homeowners in Florida for private and public wildfire risk-reduction programs and also to test for differences in response between the two groups. A random parameter logit and latent class model allowed us to determine if there is a difference in wildfire mitigation program preferences, whether WTP is higher for public or private actions for wildfire risk reduction, and whether households with personal experience and who perceive that they live in higher-risk areas have significantly higher WTP. We also compare Florida minority homeowners’ WTP values with Florida original homeowners’ estimates. Results suggest that Florida minority homeowners are willing to invest in public programs, with African-Americans WTP values at a higher rate than Hispanics. In addition, the highest priority for cost-sharing funds would go to low-income homeowners, especially to cost-share private actions on their own land. These results may help fire managers optimise allocation of scarce cost-sharing funds for public v. private actions.
Additional keywords: choice experiment, Firewise, latent class model, random parameter logit model, WUI.
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