Use of some components of new ecological paradigm scale on congestion pricing in a recreation area

Abstract

Congestion is an important externality that causes negative welfare effects on individuals using a natural resource. This paper resolves congestion issues in a high-density urban forest of Turkey via probit panels using a random utility framework. Some components of the New Environmental Paradigm (NEP) scale are incorporated into probit panels to understand recreationists' environmental attitudes to congestion pricing for shifting congestion levels. Those components are sensitivity to sustainable development, biodiversity and efficient resource use. The results offer important insights to policy makers who are confronted with two environmental management options, which are resource-restriction or resource-enlarging policies. Environmental attitudes dictate that resource enlarging policy may increase aggregate welfare up to US$472,500/year if the site is managed at low congestion levels.