Alternate Price Specifications for Estimating Residential Water Demand with Fixed Fees
研究在居民用水需求估计中，边际价格与平均收入哪个更适合作为价格变量，发现平均收入的统计显著性源于固定费用造成的单位弹性假象，剔除固定费用后只有边际价格显著，价格弹性为-0.3。
<i>Using a new model formulation and data from a sample of Colorado utilities, we investigated the price specification controversy (marginal price versus average revenue) when estimating residential water demand. The improved statistical fit using average revenue as the price variable was shown to be an artifact of the unitary elastic identity created when monthly rate schedules contain a fixed fee. When the fixed fee was purged from the data, average price was not significant, but marginal price remained significant. In the preferred double-log marginal price model, estimated price elasticity was –0.3, and conservation programs had no significant effect on water use</i>.