Public preferences and efficient allocation of a possum-control budget

Allocation of public money in New Zealand is increasingly requiring justification on efficiency grounds. A limited budget for control of the introduced possum forces difficult choices to be made about where to control possums. Such choices have traditionally been made on “scientific” criteria, which may not meet efficiency requirements. Willingness to pay for possum control at a specific location is evaluated using dichotomous choice contingent valuation applied by way of a postal survey. Willingness to pay is found to be a function of perceptions of site characteristics, some of which are different from the scientific criteria, and of socio—economic characteristics. These findings indicate that the current budget allocation method is inefficient. A new approach to cost-effective allocation of possum-control budgets, which allows simple incorporation of public preferences, is proposed.