Averting-cost measures of the benefits to South Carolina households of red imported fire ant control

摘要

A telephone survey of South Carolina households was conducted between November 1998 and January 1999 to gather information on the households' experiences with the red imported fire ant, Solenopsis invicta Buren. Fifty-four percent of the 809 respondents reported cash expenditures and/or household time for control and remediation. The estimated mean of annual cash expenditures for this control and remediation is dollar 80.37 per household. When household time used in control and remediation is valued at the minimum wage of dollar 5.15 per hour, the red imported fire ant is estimated to cost an average of dollar 100.93 per household in cash expenditures and opportunity costs of household time.