Calculating Price Elasticity of Water Demand Using Gene Expression Programming Based on Economic, Social and Meteorological Variables

• Published in: Water resources management Vol. 33; no. 12; pp. 4171 - 4188
• Main Authors: Karimlou, Keivan, Hassani, Nemat, Rashidi Mehrabadi, Abdollah, Nazari, Mohammad Reza
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01-09-2019; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Atmospheric Sciences; Civil Engineering; Climate; Climate change; Earth and Environmental Science; Earth Sciences; Economic models; Economics; Elasticity; Elasticity of demand; Environment; Financial institutions; GDP; Gene expression; Genetic algorithms; Geotechnical Engineering & Applied Earth Sciences; GNI; Gross Domestic Product; Gross National Income; Human Development Index; Hydrogeology; Hydrology/Water Resources; Income; International organizations; Mathematical analysis; Organizations; Precipitation; Price elasticity; Social factors; Water; Water consumption; Water demand; Water policies; Water rates; Water; Price elasticity; Water management; Tariff
• ISSN: 0920-4741; 1573-1650
• DOI: 10.1007/s11269-019-02353-1

Determining the changing rate of water consumption through altering parameters such as water tariffs can help water companies select appropriate water policies. This paper is intended to find the proper relation between the water price elasticity of demand and some social, economic and climatic variables that are released annually by international organizations like the United Nations Development Program and the World Bank. By using genetic algorithm, different combinations of water price elasticity of demand and variables like gross domestic product, per capita gross domestic product, gross national income, precipitation, human development index, average temperature and household size have been analyzed. It was found that the absolute price elasticity of water demand has positive relationships with precipitation and price of water. It has also been found that the gross national income, average percent of consumers who have secondary education and human development index have a negative relation with the absolute price elasticity of water demand.