  Coastal erosion is a global and pervasive phenomenon that predicates a need
for a strategic approach to the future management of coastal values and assets
(both built and natural), should we invest in protective structures like
seawalls that aim to preserve specific coastal features, or allow natural
coastline retreat to preserve sandy beaches and other coastal ecosystems.
Determining the most suitable management approach in a specific context
requires a better understanding of the full suite of economic values the
populations holds for coastal assets, including non-market values. In this
study, we characterise New South Wales residents willingness to pay to maintain
sandy beaches (width and length). We use an innovative application of a Latent
Class Binary Logit model to deal with Yea-sayers and Nay-sayers, as well as
revealing the latent heterogeneity among sample members. We find that 65% of
the population would be willing to pay some amount of levy, dependent on the
policy setting. In most cases, there is no effect of degree of beach
deterioration characterised as loss of width and length of sandy beaches of
between 5% and 100% on respondents willingness to pay for a management levy.
This suggests that respondents who agreed to pay a management levy were
motivated to preserve sandy beaches in their current state irrespective of the
severity of sand loss likely to occur as a result of coastal erosion.
Willingness to pay also varies according to beach type (amongst Iconic, Main,
Bay and Surf beaches) a finding that can assist with spatial prioritisation of
coastal management. Not recognizing the presence of nay-sayers in the data or
recognizing them but eliminating them from the estimation will result in biased
WTP results and, consequently, biased policy propositions by coastal managers.

General Economics;Economics