Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/252348 
Year of Publication: 
2021
Series/Report no.: 
IDB Working Paper Series No. IDB-WP-1152
Publisher: 
Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Washington, DC
Abstract: 
When consumption of water and other utilities is measured collectively and payment for such services is equally shared among members of the group, individuals may use more than what is socially optimal. In this paper, we evaluate how installation of individual meters affects water consumption. Using rich administrative data from the public water utility company in Quito, Ecuador, it is estimated that water consumption decreases by about 8% as a result of the introduction of individual metering. The effect is large and economically significant: in order to obtain the same effect prices would have to double. Individual water metering could be a useful tool to curve down consumption in both developing and developed countries.
Subjects: 
Water consumption
Commons problem
Institutions
Individual meters
Price elasticity
Regression discontinuity
Difference-in-difference
JEL: 
D12
D62
Q21
Q25
Q58
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Creative Commons License: 
cc-by-nc-nd Logo
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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