Framing effects and benefit transfer in the Fitzroy basin

Policy makers are often interested in how estimates of the value of an environmental asset may be disaggregated into component pieces. This is particularly the case when they are seeking to transfer benefit estimates made in one situation to related circumstances. This is the case for the environmental values of the Fitzroy River basin in Central Queensland. The basin comprises several smaller catchments that share similar development opportunities, environmental issues and water resource constraints. This paper describes an application of the choice modelling technique to estimate values for the basin as a whole and two of the smaller catchments to determine how values may be related. Comparisons are undertaken to assess the validity of the choice modelling approach to benefit transfer issues in environmental valuation studies