An empirical study on valuing natural resources economic values using benefit transfer method

In the recent years benefit transfer method has become a hot research area in the evaluation of non-market natural resources. Amide a variety of adopted research methodologies,Meta-regression benefit transfer method has become a mostly used one.In this paper, a large dataset based on the empirical non-market valuation study results reported in the United States was analyzed. This dataset is used to estimate a meta-regression model that was used to predict the corresponding recreation resources and activities values in China. The convergent validity of the meta-analytic international benefit transfer is tested against the observed recreation activity values in China. In the process, a relative percentage error indicator, paired t-test, and the Wilcoxon Signed Rank test are used. The mean benefit transfer error is 18.74%, an acceptable value for international transfer. These results suggest that the international benefit transfer could be reliably used in valuing outdoor recreational activities in China.