Dipartimento di Ingegneria informatica, automatica e gestionale

The effectiveness of price as a water conservation measure remains an open empirical issue and relevant policy question. We conduct a meta-regression analysis that summarizes 615 estimates of the price elasticity of residential water demand, from 124 econometric studies. Large-sample studies have recently converged on the central result of previous meta-analyses, namely the low value of average price elasticity. However, owing to the availability of a broad dataset of studies, we single out location and community traits that boost or depress the price elasticity of residents. Our results reveal that water scarcity is a significant driver of price elasticity. More specifically, if water scarcity is harsh, residents' intrinsic motivations to save water crowd-out price measures.