Yuck, is that total coliform bacteria in my water?

Hurry, there is an averting behavior study opportunity in Jonesville, NC (Don't drink the water ...):

Restaurants and other places that serve the public water in Jonesville were shut down today after water there tested positive for E. coli bacteria, officials said.
...
Jonesville issued a voluntary boiled water advisory for residents. But the health department ordered that restaurants that rely on the public system close until the water conditions improve.

Add up the expenditures on boiling water, bottled water, traveling farther to find a restaurant meal, etc and you get an approximation* of the benefits of avoiding the environmental insult. Regress these against household characteristics, write it up, present it at a regional economics conference and submit it to a lower-tier journal. Do something cool econometrically and send it to a second tier journal.

*Note: I never can remember if this is an upper or lower bound on the true benefits.

Comments

[John Whitehead]

You might also ask a stated preference question and do some joint estimation.