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Fairness in water consumption experiments: understanding burden-sharing preferences and conservation beliefs
The increasing impacts of climate change have intensified water insecurity, posing significant challenges for major cities in developing countries. Cape Town, South Africa, experienced its most severe drought in four centuries, highlighting the vulnerability of urban water systems to prolonged short...
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English English |
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School of Economics
2026
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| _version_ | 1869483660114132992 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Ghoor, Imaan |
| author2 | Visser, Martine |
| author_browse | Ghoor, Imaan Visser, Martine |
| author_facet | Visser, Martine Ghoor, Imaan |
| author_sort | Ghoor, Imaan |
| collection | Thesis |
| description | The increasing impacts of climate change have intensified water insecurity, posing significant challenges for major cities in developing countries. Cape Town, South Africa, experienced its most severe drought in four centuries, highlighting the vulnerability of urban water systems to prolonged shortages. Although the city has since recovered, concerns regarding long-term water security persist. Addressing these challenges necessitates a comprehensive approach that integrates both demand and supply management strategies. A critical component of effective policy design is an understanding of public preferences regarding the distribution of responsibility for water conservation, ensuring that burden-sharing mechanisms are both equitable and sustainable. This study is among the first to apply experimental methods to examine equity preferences for urban water conservation in a developing country, bridging a gap in the literature. Using a sample of 315 Cape Town residents, the study investigates how beliefs, policy preferences, and how cultural theory of risk shape fairness and burden-sharing preferences for water use. Key findings show that low-endowment players favoured principles that minimised individual contributions, such as the equal water use principle. High-endowment players demonstrated more complex patterns, with preferences influenced by education and policy attitudes. Burden-sharing principles did not significantly influence high- endowment players contributions in the first stage of the experiment. Similarly, the cultural theory of risk principles did not significantly impact contributions in the first stage of the experiment but emerged as important determinants of preferences in the second stage, with individualism and egalitarianism playing key roles. The study highlights the need for water conservation policies that reflect socioeconomic diversity and fairness norms to foster cooperation and equity. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/43365 |
| institution | University of Cape Town (South Africa) |
| language | English eng |
| last_indexed | 2026-07-01T04:02:31.591Z |
| license_str | Not specified — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| publishDateRange | 2026 |
| publishDateSort | 2026 |
| publisher | School of Economics |
| publisherStr | School of Economics |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| spelling | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/43365 Fairness in water consumption experiments: understanding burden-sharing preferences and conservation beliefs Ghoor, Imaan Visser, Martine Cape Town drought water conservation burden-sharing cultural theory of risk The increasing impacts of climate change have intensified water insecurity, posing significant challenges for major cities in developing countries. Cape Town, South Africa, experienced its most severe drought in four centuries, highlighting the vulnerability of urban water systems to prolonged shortages. Although the city has since recovered, concerns regarding long-term water security persist. Addressing these challenges necessitates a comprehensive approach that integrates both demand and supply management strategies. A critical component of effective policy design is an understanding of public preferences regarding the distribution of responsibility for water conservation, ensuring that burden-sharing mechanisms are both equitable and sustainable. This study is among the first to apply experimental methods to examine equity preferences for urban water conservation in a developing country, bridging a gap in the literature. Using a sample of 315 Cape Town residents, the study investigates how beliefs, policy preferences, and how cultural theory of risk shape fairness and burden-sharing preferences for water use. Key findings show that low-endowment players favoured principles that minimised individual contributions, such as the equal water use principle. High-endowment players demonstrated more complex patterns, with preferences influenced by education and policy attitudes. Burden-sharing principles did not significantly influence high- endowment players contributions in the first stage of the experiment. Similarly, the cultural theory of risk principles did not significantly impact contributions in the first stage of the experiment but emerged as important determinants of preferences in the second stage, with individualism and egalitarianism playing key roles. The study highlights the need for water conservation policies that reflect socioeconomic diversity and fairness norms to foster cooperation and equity. 2026-06-23T12:38:15Z 2026-06-23T12:38:15Z 2026 2026-06-23T12:35:16Z Thesis / Dissertation Masters MCom http://hdl.handle.net/11427/43365 en eng application/pdf School of Economics Faculty of Commerce University of Cape Town |
| spellingShingle | Cape Town drought water conservation burden-sharing cultural theory of risk Ghoor, Imaan Fairness in water consumption experiments: understanding burden-sharing preferences and conservation beliefs |
| thesis_degree_str | Master's |
| title | Fairness in water consumption experiments: understanding burden-sharing preferences and conservation beliefs |
| title_full | Fairness in water consumption experiments: understanding burden-sharing preferences and conservation beliefs |
| title_fullStr | Fairness in water consumption experiments: understanding burden-sharing preferences and conservation beliefs |
| title_full_unstemmed | Fairness in water consumption experiments: understanding burden-sharing preferences and conservation beliefs |
| title_short | Fairness in water consumption experiments: understanding burden-sharing preferences and conservation beliefs |
| title_sort | fairness in water consumption experiments understanding burden sharing preferences and conservation beliefs |
| topic | Cape Town drought water conservation burden-sharing cultural theory of risk |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/11427/43365 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT ghoorimaan fairnessinwaterconsumptionexperimentsunderstandingburdensharingpreferencesandconservationbeliefs |