The following is a collection of recent papers (just the last few years) concerning the Contingent Valuation (CV) method for valuing non-market resources. Incremental contributions to our understanding of these methods have proliferated in recent years. I will attempt to update these lists annually.

This inventory is intended for students in UCLA's graduate sequence in Environmental and Natural Resource Economics. The most recent update took place on March 16, 2001. CAUTION: while I try to ensure that updates overlap, I have discovered that my process occasionally misses a paper or yields duplicates. If your relevant published paper is not included, please let me know. I'll be happy to add it.

• Huang, J. C. (2001) “Precision of dichotomous choice contingent valuation welfare measures: some simulation results,” Applied Economics 33(1) 91-101.
  
  [0 cites as of 3/16/01] The purpose of this research is to examine the roles of individuals' heterogeneous economic factors and model misspecification in dichotomous choice contingent valuation welfare measurement. Willingness to pay for an improvement of environmental quality is studied. Simulation results indicate that the precision of welfare estimates increases with individuals' income levels and decreases with the price of the quality-related good. The dependence of the consumption of the quality-related good on the environmental quality also affects the reliability of welfare estimates.



• Yoo, S. H., and K. S. Chae (2001) “Measuring the economic benefits of the ozone pollution control policy in Seoul: results of a contingent valuation survey,” Urban Studies 38(1) 49-60.
  
  [0 cites as of 3/16/01] Controlling ozone pollution has become an increasingly important policy issue in developing countries such as Korea, as well as in developed countries. One response to this concern is to assess the benefits that would ensue from a proposed ozone pollution control policy. This paper applies a contingent valuation method to obtain at least a preliminary evaluation of the benefits of a policy, using a specific case study of Seoul, Korea. Respondents overall accepted the contingent market and were willing to contribute a significant amount, on average, per household. This willingness varies according to individual characteristics. The study also discusses the importance of including the ozone pollution control problem in a cost-benefit analysis and presents the policy implications of the results.



• Swallow, S. K., J. J. Opaluch, and T. F. Weaver (2001) “Strength-of-preference indicators and an ordered-response model for ordinarily dichotomous, discrete choice data,” Journal of Environmental Economics and Management 41(1) 70-93.
  
  [0 cites as of 3/16/01] Recent environmental regulations raise the importance: of accurate. survey-based methods to, estimate environmental values. while interviewing costs stimulate research to improve dichotomous choice survey methods. This paper proposes using strength-of-preference indicators,rs along with dichotomous contingent response data. We model strength-of-preference indicators as quasi-cardinal measures using an ordered-response model. We find that strength-of- preference indicators provide substantial efficiency gains while increasing respondents' effort minimally. with evidence that interpersonal comparison of preference ratings induces no bias. The ordered response model of utility and willingness to pay is superior, even in predicting the binary choice results. (C) 2000 Academic Press.



• Jorgensen, B. S., M. A. Wilson, and T. A. Heberlein (2001) “Fairness in the contingent valuation of environmental public goods: attitude toward paying for environmental improvements at two levels of scope,” Ecological Economics 36(1) 133-148.
  
  [0 cites as of 3/16/01] Respondents to contingent valuation (CV) surveys give a variety of reasons for not wanting to pay money. This variability is likely to reflect people's attitudes toward paying for the public good change, their altitudes toward paying for public goods in general, and a component that is independent of these attitudes but unique to particular beliefs about paying (e.g. 'I can't afford to pay'). Negative attitudes toward paying can contribute to an apparent insensitivity to different levels of the same public good. In a telephone survey, northern Wisconsin property owners were asked about their WTP for four environmental public goods (biodiversity, Indian spearfishing, water quality, and wolves) at two levels of scope (part and whole). For water quality and spearfishing: the part was a chain of lakes that was geographically nested within a larger region of lakes. Similarly, the biodiversity whole represented a region comprising the smaller level of the public good. The scope conditions for wolves were quantitatively nested levels of returning 300 and 800 wolves to northern Wisconsin. Respondents' beliefs about paying for each public good and level of score were measured in order to rest their generality across the different public goods and levels of scope. Negative attitudes toward paying that are general across public goods place restrictions on the use of CV for environmental public goods. However, negative attitudes that are tied to specific environmental public goods suggest that the valuation method might be difficult to implement in these cases only. Moreover, negative attitudes toward paying that are either general or specific may contribute to perfect embedding when they are expressed across different levels of scope for the same public good. Respondents' beliefs about paying for each public good were associated with an attitude toward paying for the respective good and an attitude toward paying for public goods in general at both levels of scope. The general attitude was more explanatory of beliefs about paying for wolf reintroduction and spearfishing than were the specific attitudes. The distribution of beliefs was sensitive to the type of good being valued, but less so to the scope of the public good change. Contingent valuation practitioners should seek improvements in respondents' perceptions of the fairness of the valuation process in order to facilitate citizens' involvement in decisions about environmental public goods. Avenues for future research are proposed and discussed. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.



• Wu, P. I., and C. L. Huang (2001) “Actual averting expenditure versus stated willingness to pay,” Applied Economics 33(2) 277-283.
  
  [0 cites as of 3/16/01] The purpose of this study is to perform a complete comparison of actual averting expenditure and stated willingness to pay measures, and to determine if the averting expenditure is a lower bound of the willingness to pay measured from contingent valuation experiment as suggested by literature. In addition to the single value comparison, Bootstrap, Krinsky and Robb, Jackknife, and Cameron are four simulation methods used to calculate confidence intervals for response function. Sample sizes of 100, 200, and 1000 are simulated 100 and 200 times respectively. A set of data with 540 households from a contingent policy referendum survey is employed for our purpose. Under a specific level of BOD improvement, a one-to- one single mean value comparison of the actual averting expenditure is greater than the mean willingness to pay from utility difference model. The empirical results are consistent with the theoretical expectation for expenditure difference that averting expenditure is a lower bound of willingness to pay generated from the contingent valuation method. A confidence interval, which contains the true mean willingness to pay at least 90% of the times, includes the actual averting expenditure as a lower bound of the mean willingness to pay as theory predicts.



• Russell, C., et al. (2001) “Experimenting with multi-attribute utility survey methods in a multi-dimensional valuation problem,” Ecological Economics 36(1) 87-108.
  
  [0 cites as of 3/16/01] The use of willingness-to-pay (WTP) survey techniques based on multi-attribute utility (MAU) approaches has been recommended by some authors as a way to deal simultaneously with two difficulties that increasingly plague environmental valuation. The first of these is that, as valuation exercises come to involve less familiar and more subtle environmental effects. such as ecosystem management, lay respondents are less likely to have any idea, in advance, of the value they would attach to a described result. The second is that valuation questions may increasingly be about multi-dimensional effects (e.g. changes in ecosystem function) as opposed for example to changes in visibility from a given point. MAU has been asserted to allow the asking of simpler questions, even in the context of difficult subjects. And it is, as the name suggests, inherently multi-dimensional. This paper asks whether MAU techniques can be shown to 'make a difference' in the context of questions about preferences over, and valuation of differences between, alternative descriptions of a forest ecosystem. Making a difference is defined in terms of internal consistency of answers to preference and WTP questions involving three 5- attribute forest descriptions. The method involves first asking MAU-structured questions attribute-by-attribute. The responses to these questions allow researchers to infer each respondent's preferences and WTP. Second, the same respondents are asked directly about their preferences and WTPs. The answer to the making-a-difference question, based largely on comparing the inferred and slated results is not straightforward. Overall, the inferred results are good 'predictors' of what is slated. But the agreement is by no means perfect. And the individual differences are not explainable by the socio-economic characteristics of the individuals. Since the technique involves creating a long, somewhat tedious, and even apparently confusing series of tasks (though each task may itself be simple), it is by no means clear that the prescription,'use MAU techniques', holds the same level of practical as of theoretical promise. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.



• Kaplowitz, M. D., and J. P. Hoehn (2001) “Do focus groups and individual interviews reveal the same information for natural resource valuation?,” Ecological Economics 36(2) 237-247.
  
  [0 cites as of 3/16/01] Focus groups and:individual interviews have become accepted methods used in the initial stages of valuation research. Whether focus groups and individual interviews reveal similar valuation information has not been thoroughly studied. The research tests the hypothesis that focus groups yield the same ecosystem service information as do individual interviews. The research also explores how the focus group and individual interview data might differ. The analysis skews that focus groups and individual interviews are not substitutes. They yield different information about ecosystem services and resource uses. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.



• Goldar, B., and S. Misra (2001) “Valuation of environmental goods: Correcting for bias in contingent valuation studies based on willingness-to-accept,” American Journal of Agricultural Economics 83(1) 150-156.
  
  [0 cites as of 3/16/01] The willingness-to-accept (WTA) measure of value is often subject to a systematic, large bias, making it unsuitable for use in contingent valuation studies. However, for the valuation of environmental goods, in many cases WTA rather than the willingness-to-pay (WTP) is the relevant measure. The paper proposes that, by using a composite-error model for the estimation of the valuation function, a correction can be made for the bias in reported WTA. To illustrate the proposed methodology, it is applied to the data of the Brookshire- Coursey (1987) study of alternative tree density in Troutman Park, Fort Collins.



• Buschena, D. E., T. L. Anderson, and J. L. Leonard (2001) “Valuing non-marketed goods: The case of elk permit lotteries,” Journal of Environmental Economics and Management 41(1) 33-43.
  
  [0 cites as of 3/16/01] Permit allocation methods offer a way of estimating the value of non-marketed elk hunting. Applicants compete for elk hunting permits in Colorado by acquiring preference points that have a monetary cost and by distributing themselves among hunts until their marginal values are equalized. We infer the marginal value of permits from the opportunity costs incurred to acquire these permits and use a hedonic regression analysis to estimate the impact of various hunt characteristics on permit value. (C) 2000 Academic Press.



• An, M. Y. Y. (2000) “A semiparametric distribution for willingness to pay and statistical inference with dichotomous choice contingent valuation data,” American Journal of Agricultural Economics 82(3) 487-500.
  
  [0 cites as of 3/16/01] This paper proposes a semiparametric willingness to pay distribution and discusses several aspects of statistical inference with dichotomous choice contingent valuation data. We study likelihood-bssed estimation of the model parameters with and without controlling for unobserved heterogeneity. estimation of the mean and median willingness to pay, and specification tests. These statistical procedures are implemented using a data set. In this application we find that a parametric model is rejected in favor of our semiparametric model, that the heterogeneity can be adequately controlled using a simple density, and that the semiparametric model offers more robust mean willingness to pay estimates.



• Whitehead, J. C., T. C. Haab, and J. C. Huang (2000) “Measuring recreation benefits of quality improvements with revealed and stated behavior data,” Resource and Energy Economics 22(4) 339-354.
  
  [0 cites as of 3/16/01] We propose a combined revealed and stated behavior estimation method to measure recreation benefits of a fixed quality improvement that directly addresses the issues of variation in environmental quality beyond the observed range and new participation induced by higher quality. We survey a sample of the general population, including non-participants, to obtain stated preference data for trips based on a policy-relevant estuarine quality improvement. Panel recreation demand models that take into account new participants induced by the higher quality are estimated and used to derive total consumer surplus. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. JEL classification: Q26.



• Teal, G. A., and J. B. Loomis (2000) “Effects of gender and parental status on the economic valuation of increasing wetlands, reducing wildlife contamination and increasing salmon populations,” Society & Natural Resources 13(1) 1-14.
  
  [0 cites as of 3/16/01] Far this article, analyses were carried out to determine whether a significant difference exists between females and males in terms of their willingness to pay (WTP) for environmental programs dealing with the protection of wildlife and salmon. Previous research had hypothesized a significant relationship between gender and environmental concern. Our results Of these analyses failed to reveal gender as a significant determinant of an individual's WTP, even when age, education, and income were accounted for. Parental status also proved to be unrelated to WTP, with a significant difference in the WTP between parents and nonparents appearing in only one case. In addition, neither motherhood status nor fatherhood status was found to be a significant determinant of WTP, and there was no significant difference between mothers and fathers in terms of their WTP.



• Whitehead, J. C. (2000) “Demand-side factors and environmental equity analysis,” Society & Natural Resources 13(1) 75-81.
  
  [0 cites as of 3/16/01] Equity issues have led many economists to reconsider their preference for conducting efficiency analyses with aggregated estimates of the benefits and costs of changes in environmental resource allocations. For example, evidence suggests that health risks due to hazardous wastes disproportionately affect the poor and non-White. Disproportionate outcomes are not necessarily inefficient, however. The purpose of this article is to propose a demand-side approach for enviromental equity analysis that is based on a technique adapted from the labor economics of wage discrimination. Applying the test to the demand for water quality, we find that willingness to pay values are not equal far White and non-White survey respondents. The empirical results lead to some observations about environmental equity analyses.



• Westra, L. (2000) “The disvalue of 'contingent valuation' and the problem of the 'expectation gap',” Environmental Values 9(2) 153-171.
  
  [1 cites as of 3/16/01] 'Contingent Valuation' is a method often used to make decisions about environmental issues. It is used to elicit citizens' preferences at the location of a specific facility, new road and the like. I argue that even if we could elicit a truly informed and 'free' choice, the method would remain flawed, as 1) all 'local' activity also has far-reaching environmental consequences; 2) majority decisions may support chices that adversely affect minorities; 3) even with full information, consenting to harms like significant alterations of our normal functioning or health, or genetic mutations, may not be morally acceptable.



• Ajzen, I., L. H. Rosenthal, and T. C. Brown (2000) “Effects of perceived fairness on willingness to pay,” Journal of Applied Social Psychology 30(12) 2439-2450.
  
  [0 cites as of 3/16/01] An experiment tested the effects of fairness on willingness to pay (WTP) for public goods. Treatments varied the amount requested (high vs. low), the fairness of the requested contribution (high vs, low), and the beneficiary (self vs, other) or cause of the needed change (internal vs, external), irrespective of fairness type (beneficiary or cause), under conditions of high fairness, the public good was judged to be more valuable and the requested contribution more justified. The judged value of the public good and the perceived fairness of the requested contribution each made a significant contribution to the prediction of WTP. The requested amount influenced WTP by acting as an initial anchor. The implications of these findings for contingent valuation are discussed.



• Subramanian, U., and M. Cropper (2000) “Public choices between life saving programs: The tradeoff between qualitative factors and lives saved,” Journal of Risk and Uncertainty 21(1) 117-149.
  
  [0 cites as of 3/16/01] In a telephone survey 1000 adults were confronted with pairs of life saving programs that differed in number of lives saved and asked which program in each pair they would choose to implement. Respondents were also asked to rate qualitative program characteristics on 10 point scales. For most respondents, lives saved are significant in explaining program choices, as are psychological risk characteristics. The rate of technical substitution between these characteristics and lives saved is, however, inelastic. It is noteworthy that for about 20 percent of respondents, choices among programs appear to be insensitive to lives saved.



• Vaughan, W. J., et al. (2000) “Cost-benefit analysis based on referendum CV: Dealing with uncertainty,” Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management-Asce 126(6) 351-357.
  
  [0 cites as of 3/16/01] An interesting and potentially important, but little appreciated, result of the use of dichotomous-choice contingent valuation (CV) techniques is that there are about a dozen ways to deal econometrically with the data on bid acceptance to construct a mean or median estimate of willingness-to-pay benefits, none of which is clearly the correct choice. They produce measures of central tendency that can differ, from lowest to highest, by factors ranging from 5 to 15. This is a source of uncertainty in benefit or damage estimation that can easily dominate the more traditionally recognized statistical uncertainty based on noise in the response land respondent) data. It potentially can introduce ambiguity into a cost- benefit test of economic feasibility if a prospective investment either passes the test based on some willingness-to- pay measures or fails it based on others. These points are illustrated using actual data from a well-designed dichotomous- choice CV survey administered to residents of Sao Paulo, Brazil, as part of the application process for a loan to cover a multiphase project to improve the quality of the Tiete River.



• Yoo, S. H., S. J. Kwak, and T. Y. Kim (2000) “Dealing with zero response data from contingent valuation surveys: application of least absolute deviations estimator,” Applied Economics Letters 7(3) 181-184.
  
  [0 cites as of 3/16/01] Data on willingness-to-pay (WTP) collected from contingent valuation surveys are usually censored at zero. In such cases, ordinary least squares estimation of the WTP equation produces inconsistent parameter estimates. The maximum likelihood estimation of the Tobit model, which is widely used in this case, is not robust to heteroscedasticity and non-normal error structure. A least absolute deviations estimator allows for the censored data structure and is robust to these problems. In addition, the technique is useful in the case of small amounts of data. It is applied to household survey data in which the contingent valuation question involved the benefit of greenhouse gases reduction policy in Korea.



• Agresti, A., et al. (2000) “Random-effects modeling of categorical response data,” Sociological Methodology 2000, Vol 30 30 27-80.
  
  [0 cites as of 3/16/01] In many applications observations have so,ne type of clustering, with observations within clusters tending to be correlated. A common instance of this occurs when each subject in the sample undergoes repeated measurement, in which case a cluster consists of the set of observations for the subject. One approach to modeling clustered data introduces cluster- level random effects into the model. The use of random effects in linear models for normal responses is well established. By contrast, random effects have only recently seen much use in models for categorical data. This chapter surveys a,variety of potential social science applications of random effects modeling of categorical data. Applications discussed include repeated measurement for binary or ordinal responses, shrinkage to improve multiparameter estimation of a set of proportions or rates, multivariate latent variable modeling, hierarchically structured modeling, and cluster sampling. The models discussed belong to the class of generalized linear mixed models (GLMMs, an extension of ordinary linear models that permits nonnormal response variables and both fixed and random effects in the predictor term. The models are GLMMs for either binomial or Poisson response variables, although we also present extensions to multicategory (nominal or ordinal) responses. We also summarize some of the technical issues of model-fitting that complicate the fitting of GLMMs even with existing software.



• Spash, C. L. (2000) “Multiple value expression in contingent valuation: Economics and ethics,” Environmental Science & Technology 34(8) 1433-1438.
  
  [1 cites as of 3/16/01] Contingent valuation method (CVM) surveys have become a popular way of placing a monetary value on various aspects of the environment with the aim of determining whether the benefits of a proposed project outweighs the costs, Litigation over natural resource damages has used CVM results as evidence of the size of compensation required. However, despite attempts to set down definitive rules, survey redesign and data manipulation fail to address some key issues raised by CVM studies. Among these is evidence that modified lexicographic preferences, where the substitutability of environmental quality with other commodities is rejected, can be common. Human value formation with respect to the environment combines ethical and economic aspects in a more complex way than most economists have assumed. This paper reports new evidence confirming the influence of ethical beliefs about rights for endangered species in determining willingness to pay (WTP) responses to a CVM survey. One subsample of those holding rights are found to protest against payment, while others bid positively and have a significant impact on WTP. Less than half the total sample held ethical motives in accord with economic theory. Policies and instruments based upon the application of neoclassical utility theory will then be neither optimal nor provide the socially desired outcome.



• Spash, C. L. (2000) “Ecosystems, contingent valuation and ethics: the case of wetland re-creation,” Ecological Economics 34(2) 195-215.
  
  [3 cites as of 3/16/01] This paper addresses a current issue in environmental valuation, namely, the extent to which environmental preferences depart from the usual economic paradigm to incorporate some lexicographic elements. After a theoretical discussion the paper reviews attempts to explore this question empirically by supplementing contingent valuation analyses with an exploration of the motives behind willingness-to-pay responses, including zero bids and refusals to answer. This is followed by the presentation of new evidence investigating respondents willingness to pay for the creation of a wetland taken from 713 personal interviews of the British public. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.



• Spash, C. L. (2000) “Ethical motives and charitable contributions in contingent valuation: Empirical evidence from social psychology and economics,” Environmental Values 9(4) 453-479.
  
  [0 cites as of 3/16/01] Contingent valuation of the environment has proven popular amongst environmental economists in recent years and has increased the role of monetary valuation in public policy. However, the underlying economic model of human psychology fails to explain why certain types of stated behaviour are observed. Thus, good scope exists for interdisciplinary research in the area of economics and psychology with regard to environmental valuation. A critical review is presented here of some recent research by social psychologists in the US attempting to explain stated behaviour in contingent valuation. Attitudinal scales have been used to analyse the role of ecocentric, biocentric and altruistic motives for giving. However, the research is shown to draw some potentially misleading conclusions and be unrepresentative of contingent valuation. Two recent economic studies using contingent valuation are then reported and shown to have identified non- economic motives for WTP. The complexity of value formation and expression is found to go far beyond that generally accepted by economic models. Greater consideration of the role played by attitudes and ethical considerations then becomes relevant to the interpretation of results being used in standard cost- benefit analysis and environmental policy.



• Smith, R. D. (2000) “The discrete-choice willingness-to-pay question format in health economics: Should we adopt environmental guidelines?,” Medical Decision Making 20(2) 194-206.
  
  [0 cites as of 3/16/01] The use of willingness to pay (WTP) in valuing the benefits of health care programs is increasing. Although such values have been derived using open-ended, bidding, or payment-card techniques, recently discrete-choice questionnaires have been advocated, particularly following the report of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration concerning the validity of using WTP to estimate environmental benefits. It is argued that discrete-choice questions offer a more realistic market, and will therefore lead to more valid responses and yield higher response rates through reduced mental demands. The author reviews these issues in a critical assessment of discrete-choice questions.



• Shabman, L., and K. Stephenson (2000) “Environmental valuation and its economic critics,” Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management-Asce 126(6) 382-388.
  
  [0 cites as of 3/16/01] In the last few decades economists have devoted significant professional attention to developing and applying methods to place monetary values on environmental services. This paper summarizes the criticisms from within the economics profession of the environmental valuation research program. Generally, the critics question whether meaningful benefit estimates can be made for environmental services and, if made, whether the estimates are acceptable guides to making environmental policy. We conclude by noting that the debate over the "value of valuation" in water resources will not subside, because this debate is part of a wider intellectual dialogue regarding the role of analysts and quantification in the making of public policy.



• Svedsater, H. (2000) “Contingent valuation of global environmental resources: Test of perfect and regular embedding,” Journal of Economic Psychology 21(6) 605-623.
  
  [0 cites as of 3/16/01] The present study examines the internal consistency of willingness to pay (WTP) assessed for four environmental amenities in a hypothetical market scenario. Particularly, the occurrence of embedding is investigated by performing external tests of part-whole effects and insensitivity to scope. Moreover, four different measures or intensifiers of scope (i.e., absolute magnitudes, percentages, number of events, and verbal cues) are applied in order to evaluate their influence on scope sensitivity. The responsiveness of WTP is also compared with categorical rating (CR) as an alternative measure of environmental priorities. Our results indicate that neither instrument, as utilised here, is capable of making the respondents responsive to scope. The weak relation between expressed economic value and instrumental considerations are also supported by small variations in mean WTP across the four issues. A part-whole effect is finally demonstrated for global warming, where respondents are willing to pay more when global warming is valued on its own than respondents who consider this amenity in conjunction with three other environmental issues. (C) 2000 Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. PsycINFO classification. 3920; 4070 JEL classification: H41.



• Stevens, T. H., et al. (2000) “Comparison of contingent valuation and conjoint analysis in ecosystem management,” Ecological Economics 32(1) 63-74.
  
  [0 cites as of 3/16/01] Contingent valuation (CV) and conjoint analysis were used to estimate landowner's willingness to pay (WTP) for ecosystem management on non-industrial private forest land. The results suggest that even when conjoint and CV questions are the same. except for rating and pricing format, respectively, WTP estimates are quite different. Since most conjoint models essentially count 'maybe' responses to valuation questions as 'yes' responses, we conclude that conjoint model results often produce WTP estimates that are biased upwards. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.



• Sen, A. (2000) “The discipline of cost-benefit analysis,” Journal of Legal Studies 29(2) 931-952.
  
  [0 cites as of 3/16/01] Cost-benefit analysis is a general discipline, based on the use of some foundational principles, which are not altogether controversial, but have nevertheless considered plausibility. Divisiveness increases as various additional requirements are imposed. There is a trade-off here between easier usability (through locked-up formulae) and mon general acceptability (through allowing parametric variations). The paper examines and scrutinizes the merits and demerits of these additional requirements. The particular variant of cost-benefit approach that is most commonly used now is, in fact, extraordinarily limited, because of its insistence on doing the valuation entirely through an analogy with the market mechanism. This admits only a narrow class of values, and demands that individuals be unconcerned about many substantial variations, ignored in the procedure of market valuation. The use, instead, of a general social choice approach can allow greater freedom of valuation and can also accommodate more informational inputs.



• Scarpa, R., et al. (2000) “Valuing the recreational benefits from the creation of nature reserves in Irish forests,” Ecological Economics 33(2) 237-250.
  
  [0 cites as of 3/16/01] Data from a large-scale contingent valuation study are used to investigate the effects of forest attributes on willingness to pay for forest recreation in Ireland. In particular, the presence of a nature reserve in the forest is found to significantly increase the visitors' willingness to pay. A random utility model is used to estimate the welfare change associated with the creation of nature reserves in all the Irish forests currently without one. The yearly impact on visitors' economic welfare of new nature reserves approaches half a million pounds per annum, exclusive of non-recreational values. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.



• Scarpa, R., and I. Bateman (2000) “Efficiency gains afforded by improved bid design versus follow- up valuation questions in discrete-choice CV studies,” Land Economics 76(2) 299-311.
  
  [0 cites as of 3/16/01] Interval data analysis of CV discrete choice responses delivers efficiency gains which must be weighed against the risk of introducing strategic response bias. Efficiency gains are also achievable by improved bid design. We assess these gains on median WTP estimates first in an empirical application, then by means of a Monte Carlo experiment comparing three different bid designs. Improved, but sub-optimal, bid design delivers comparable gains to those achieved by one and two follow-up questions. The first follow-up captures more than 50% of the efficiency gain provided by a second follow-up.



• Scarpa, R. (2000) “Contingent valuation versus choice experiments: Estimating the benefits of environmentally sensitive areas in Scotland: Comment,” Journal of Agricultural Economics 51(1) 120-126.
  
  [0 cites as of 3/16/01] Following Boxall et al. (1996), Hanley et al. (1998) compare welfare measures derived from contingent valuation (CV) to those derived from choice experiment (CE). Using the same Gumbel distribution assumption of the unobserved component of indirect utility, they estimate welfare measures that they expect to be the same. However they fail to acknowledge that the indirect utility specifications underlying the two sets of estimates differ Hence, they do not compare like with like and the difference in welfare estimates cannot be definitely attributed to the difference in the two stated preference methods employed. This comment argues that their econometric analysis is flawed and does not support many of their concluding remarks. Further disagreement is expressed with their alleged findings on the potential performance of cv in benefit transfer studies.



• Bateman, I. J., et al. (2000) “Estimating four Hicksian welfare measures for a public good: A contingent valuation investigation,” Land Economics 76(3) 355-373.
  
  [0 cites as of 3/16/01] Using equivalent loss (the monetary loss equivalent to a proposed amenity reduction, EL) and equivalent gain (the gain equivalent to a proposed amenity increase, EG) alongside traditional welfare measures in a contingent valuation study of traffic disamenity, we report an experiment designed to test theoretical explanations of the well-known disparity between compensating surplus and equivalent surplus measures of welfare. No compelling evidence is found in favor of loss aversion as a cause of the disparity. Meanwhile, as valuation measures, the performance of EL is similar to the traditional willingness to pay for a gain, while EG performs poorly. (JEL Q26).



• Berrens, R. P., et al. (2000) “Contingent values for New Mexico instream flows: With tests of scope, group-size reminder and temporal reliability,” Journal of Environmental Management 58(1) 73-90.
  
  [0 cites as of 3/16/01] The protection of instream flows, the flow of wafer in natural river channels, is a controversial environmental issue throughout the US West This is especially the case in New Mexico, which is unique in that no legal avenue for protection exists. This contingent valuation study investigates the non- market benefits of protecting minimum instream flows in New Mexico; the elicited values are expected to have a significant non-use component. The original dichotomous choice contingent valuation telephone survey was conducted in February 1995, and used a voluntary contribution trust fund format. Using the same 2 x 2 experimental design, computer-assisted telephone interview system and sampling frame of New Mexico residents, the survey was then replicated in February 1996. As a measure of theoretical validity, we test the sensitivity in valuation responses to a change in the scope of the good (nested geographical components). Split-sample statistical tests of scope remain relatively rare in contingent valuation studies involving nonuse values, especially when combined with other tests of validity and reliability using the same sampling frame and survey instrument. Thus, corollary tests of sensitivity in valuation responses to information about the collective nature of providing the good (a group-size reminder) and the temporal reliability of results are also conducted. Despite the explicit 'contributions frame: there is no evidence to support the simple contribution model for interpreting valuation responses. (C) 2000 Academic Press.



• Berrens, R. P. (2000) “Reluctant respondents and contingent valuation surveys,” Applied Economics Letters 7(4) 263-266.
  
  [0 cites as of 3/16/01] Using an innovative telephone survey design, this study investigates the possibility that 'reluctant' respondents may give significantly different willingness to pay (WTP) responses in contingent valuation surveys. Two different measures of respondent reluctance are evaluated (interviewer assessed and respondent assessed). Evidence of a reluctant respondent effect is present in an open-ended elicitation format but not in a dichotomous choice elicitation format. Implications for survey design and WTP modelling are discussed.



• Ryan, M., and F. San Miguel (2000) “Testing for consistency in willingness to pay experiments,” Journal of Economic Psychology 21(3) 305-317.
  
  [0 cites as of 3/16/01] Given the increased use of willingness to pay (WTP) experiments to elicit the economic value of goods, it is becoming increasingly important to assess the validity of the instrument. Given the problems of testing for external validity in the absence of market, other methods must be developed to test the validity of WTP responses. This paper develops a simple test of consistency in WTP experiments which is based on the theoretical basis of the technique - if commodity A is preferred to B, then individuals should be willing to pay more for A than B. The test is applied to elicit women's preferences for two alternative treatments for menorrhagia: conservative treatment versus hysterectomy. Thirty percent of respondents failed the consistency test. Cost-based responses were found to partly explain inconsistent responses. This simple test highlights potential problems when using WTP experiments within a cost-benefit analysis framework. Possible solutions to avoid 'cost-based' WTP responses are suggested. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. PsycINFO classification: 3920 JEL classification: C21; C42; C52; D12.



• Nyborg, K. (2000) “Homo Economicus and Homo Politicus: interpretation and aggregation of environmental values,” Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization 42(3) 305-322.
  
  [1 cites as of 3/16/01] In addition to his role as a consumer pursuing his own interests, an individual may also regard himself as an ethical observer or citizen, judging matters from society's point of view. However, an individual's personal preferences do not necessarily coincide with his social preferences, This paper presents a formal model in which individuals are assumed to have two distinct preference orderings: Personal well-being functions are applied in contexts where the individual regards himself as a consumer, while subjective social welfare functions are used when the citizen role is perceived as most relevant, The paper discusses the implications for environmental valuation if some respondents take on a citizen role when reporting their willingness to pay. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. JEL classification: D11; D61; H41; Q21.



• Ryan, M., and S. Wordsworth (2000) “Sensitivity of willingness to pay estimates to the level of attributes in discrete choice experiments,” Scottish Journal of Political Economy 47(5) 504-524.
  
  [0 cites as of 3/16/01] This paper considers issues raised in the application of discrete choice experiments (DCEs) to estimating willingness to pay (WTP). The main issue addressed is the sensitivity of WTP estimates to the level of attributes. A DCE, concerned with preferences for alternative cervical screening programmes, was carried out with women in the Tayside area of Scotland. A split sample design was employed in which respondents were divided into two groups. Each group received a discrete choice questionnaire that varied with respect to the levels of three of the six attributes. The price attribute was one of the attributes that varied across questionnaires. Whilst estimated coefficients were not significantly different across five of the six attributes included in the experiment, mean WTP estimates were significantly different for four of the five,welfare estimates. However, from a policy point of view, such a difference may not be important. Consideration is also given to other general methodological and policy issues that are raised when using DCEs to estimate WTP. The findings suggest the need for further research into the design and application of DCEs as a method for estimating WTP.



• Brown, K. M., and L. O. Taylor (2000) “Do as you say, say as you do: evidence on gender differences in actual and stated contributions to public goods,” Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization 43(1) 127-139.
  
  [0 cites as of 3/16/01] Recent work on public goods contributions has examined the relationship between gender and free-riding behavior in studies using laboratory public goods. This research furthers this line of inquiry by examining gender as a possible explanation of hypothetical bias, which occurs in valuation studies using real world public goods. Results show that gender differences exist in hypothetical valuation exercises, but not in real valuation exercises. Further, the results show that hypothetical bias is almost three times larger for males than for females, an important result for researchers investigating the source of, and solutions for, hypothetical bias. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. JEL classification: H41.



• Rolfe, J., J. Bennett, and J. Louviere (2000) “Choice modelling and its potential application to tropical rainforest preservation,” Ecological Economics 35(2) 289-302.
  
  [0 cites as of 3/16/01] Loss of rainforest occurs in part because of a global market failure problem. Markets routinely transmit signals about international demands for forest products such as timber, but fail to transmit signals about demands for preservation. To make efficient resource allocation choices, decision makers need some framework to estimate the non-use values that might be held by an international community for rainforest preservation. Non-market valuation techniques can be used for this purpose, but framing and other problems limit the application of the contingent valuation method (CVM). An alternative technique, choice modelling (CM), appears to hold some promise because it can be used to model complex situations and to frame choices consistent with 'real life' choices. In this paper a CM experiment to assess the values that Australians hold for rainforest conservation in Vanuatu is reported. The experiment disguises effectively the issue of interest, rainforest conservation in Vanuatu, within a pool of other conservation locations. Also, the experiment demonstrates that choice tradeoffs may involve a variety of environmental and socio-economic factors, rather than be concentrated on some monetary tradeoff. The results demonstrate that a variety of predictive and valuation tools can be gained from a CM experiment, and suggest that further development is warranted. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.



• Rekola, M., et al. (2000) “Incommensurable preferences in contingent valuation: the case of Natura 2000 Network in Finland,” Environmental Conservation 27(3) 260-268.
  
  [0 cites as of 3/16/01] In the literature of contingent valuation, a rights-based system of environmental ethics claiming that natural objects have absolute rights, has frequently been regarded as the main reason for incommensurability, i.e. for citizens' inability to find a common measure according to which all values could be ranked. In a study of 2400 Finns aged between 18 and 70, we tested whether a respondent's commitment to guaranteeing private property rights could be a reason for incommensurability beyond the respondent's possible commitment to absolute nature rights. It was found that incommensurability, modelled with lexicographic preferences, was attributable more often to private property rights than to nature rights. However, Finnish respondents who had lexicographic preferences for nature rights based their choice more often on an ethical judgement, whereas lexicographic preferences for property rights could rather be explained with an ambivalent preference construction. Lexicographic preferences for nature rights increased the willingness to pay for conservation, while lexicographic preferences for property rights decreased it. The result, which was predicted by the theory, supported the validity of incommensurability measurement. The study therefore indicates that several reasons for incommensurable preferences may exist and that it is possible to measure these reasons in contingent valuation surveys in order to judge the validity of the welfare measures in environmental policy decision-making.



• Payne, J. W., et al. (2000) “Valuation of multiple environmental programs,” Journal of Risk and Uncertainty 21(1) 95-115.
  
  [0 cites as of 3/16/01] We examined sequence effects on willingness-to-pay (WTP) when people evaluate a series of environmental goods. Each respondent evaluated five different environmental goods using WTP and four evaluative attitude ratings. There was a strong sequence effect: WTP was much larger for the first good than for goods evaluated afterward. Also, total WTP for the bundle of five goods depended on which good was evaluated first: the more highly valued the first good, the higher the total WTP for the bundle. The attitude ratings are shown to he more statistically efficient than WTP in measuring the relative importance of different environmental goods.



• Crooker, J., and C. L. Kling (2000) “Nonparametric bounds on welfare measures: A new tool for nonmarket valuation,” Journal of Environmental Economics and Management 39(2) 145-161.
  
  [0 cites as of 3/16/01] In this research, we adapt and extend previous work on nonparametric bounds for welfare measures. We present a procedure for estimating upper and lower bounds on each consumer's individual willingness to pay for an environmental improvement. The exciting aspect of this work is that these bounds are derived using only observed quantities and prices of visits to a recreation area without resorting to any parametric assumptions on demand or utility. In Monte Carlo simulations, we find that the bounds have the potential to be narrow enough for policy purposes. (C) 2000 Academic Press.



• Blamey, R. K., et al. (2000) “A test of policy labels in environmental choice modelling studies,” Ecological Economics 32(2) 269-286.
  
  [0 cites as of 3/16/01] A question that arises in the application of environmental choice modelling (CM) studies is whether to present the choice sets in a generic or labelled form. The former involves labelling the policy options to be presented to respondents in a generic way, for example, as 'option A','option B', etc. The labelled approach assigns alternative-specific descriptors to each option. These may relate to the names of proposed policies, different locations or any other policy-relevant details. Both approaches have their advantages. A potential advantage of using alternative-specific labels is that respondents may be better able to base their choices on the true policy context. This can increase predictive validity whilst at the same lime reducing the cognitive burden of the CM exercise. A potential advantage of the generic labelling approach is that respondents may be less inclined to base their choices wholly or largely on the labels, and as a consequence, may provide better information regarding trade-offs among attributes. The two approaches to choice set design are compared in the context of a CM study of the values of remnant vegetation in the Desert Uplands of Central Queensland. Results indicate a difference in the cognitive processes generated by choice models using the different approaches. This difference is reflected in both the alternative-specific constants and the taste parameters, and cannot be accounted for by differences in error variance across the two treatments. The implications for environmental valuation are discussed. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.



• Chilton, S. M., and W. G. Hutchinson (2000) “A note on the warm glow of giving and scope sensitivity in contingent valuation studies,” Journal of Economic Psychology 21(4) 343-349.
  
  [0 cites as of 3/16/01] This note develops a behavioral framework to classify individual contingent valuation (CV) respondents in terms of the warm glow and altruistic motives in their WTP responses. We suggest that at least five possible behavioral categories for CV responses may exist, depending on the type of underlying preferences and whether respondents are satiated or non- satiated with respect to the good. An empirical example suggests that the warm glow motive may be present in the majority of bids, although its presence does not necessarily preclude scope sensitivity to the quantity/quality of an environmental good. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.



• Morrison, G. C. (2000) “The endowment effect and expected utility,” Scottish Journal of Political Economy 47(2) 183-197.
  
  [0 cites as of 3/16/01] The endowment effect, which is well documented in the contingent valuation literature, alters people's preferences according to a reference point established in an elicitation question. In particular, the utility that people place on a bundle is both a positive function of the quantities of the goods comprising the bundle, and a negative function of any loss (real or hypothetical) that the elicitation question asks them to incur. Biases such as this have lead same to reject the contingent valuation method as a: means of quantifying costs and benefits infavour of other methods of preference elicitation such as standard gambles, But, most preference elicitation methods used by economists require people to express their preferences for one good in terms of their willingness to forego some of another good. Consequently, it is reasonable to expect that, and prudent to check whether, an endowment effect is also evident in other methods of preference elicitation such as von Neumann-Morgenstern's standard gambles. Internal inconsistencies in the standard gamble method from the experimental economics literature and from a study into the value of non-fatal road injuries are shown to be evidence that an endowment effect is also at work in standard gambles.



• Morrison, M. D., R. K. Blamey, and J. W. Bennett (2000) “Minimising payment vehicle bias in contingent valuation studies,” Environmental & Resource Economics 16(4) 407-422.
  
  [0 cites as of 3/16/01] The payment vehicle is a crucial element in applications of the contingent valuation method because it provides the context for payment. However, in many countries a relative unfamiliarity with the use of tax levies and referenda can affect the plausibility of payment vehicles and lead to payment vehicle bias. The most commonly used approach for determining whether payment bias exists is to use tests of convergent validity. It is demonstrated that simple tests of convergent validity can be ineffective in diagnosing the existence of payment vehicle bias. Payment vehicle bias is found to occur because of differences in the coverage of payment vehicles and doubts about payment being one-off. When respondents are found to be protesting against a particular payment vehicle, the current state of the art approach is to delete them from the sample. In this paper an alternative approach that relies on the recoding of protest responses is proposed.



• Messonnier, M. L., et al. (2000) “Survey response-related biases in contingent valuation: Concepts, remedies, and empirical application to valuing aquatic plant management,” American Journal of Agricultural Economics 82(2) 438-450.
  
  [0 cites as of 3/16/01] Sample nonresponse and selection biases that may occur in survey research such as contingent valuation applications are discussed and tested. Correction mechanisms for these types of biases are demonstrated. Results indicate the importance of testing and correcting for unit and item nonresponse bias in contingent valuation survey data. When sample nonresponse and selection bias go uncorrected, welfare measures map be overestimated or underestimated contributing to potential errors in resource policy and management decisions.



• Ludwig, D. (2000) “Limitations of economic valuation of ecosystems,” Ecosystems 3(1) 31-35.
  
  [1 cites as of 3/16/01]



• Loomis, J., et al. (2000) “Measuring the total economic value of restoring ecosystem services in an impaired river basin: results from a contingent valuation survey,” Ecological Economics 33(1) 103-117.
  
  [0 cites as of 3/16/01] Five ecosystem services that could be restored along a 45-mile section of the Platte river were described to respondents using a building block approach developed by an interdisciplinary team. These ecosystem services were dilution of wastewater, natural purification of water, erosion control, habitat for fish and wildlife, and recreation. Households were asked a dichotomous choice willingness to pay question regarding purchasing the increase in ecosystem services through a higher water bill. Results from nearly 100 in-person interviews indicate that households would pay an average of $21 per month or $252 annually for the additional ecosystem services. Generalizing this to the households living along the river yields a value of $19 million to $70 million depending on whether those refusing to be interviewed have a zero value or not. Even the lower bound benefit estimates exceed the high estimate of water leasing costs ($1.13 million) and conservation reserve program farmland easements costs ($12.3 million) necessary to produce the increase in ecosystem services. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.



• Huhtala, A. (2000) “Binary choice valuation studies with heteregeneous preferences regarding the program being valued,” Environmental & Resource Economics 16(3) 263-279.
  
  [0 cites as of 3/16/01] We investigate the effect of respondents' heterogeneous preferences regarding the good to be valued in binary-choice contingent valuation studies. This is especially important when the valuation options give rise to both highly negative and highly positive attitudes. The survey design employs questionnaires which include separate items for willingness to favor and willingness to contribute in monetary terms to the provision of the good. In light of our analysis, eliciting respondents' different preferences for the project first, without monetary considerations, would improve the WTP estimates as welfare measures. Our results also suggest that nonparametric estimation could offer another solution for accounting for preference heterogeneity. Nonparametric estimation is less sensitive to those 'no' responses which are in fact not intended to reflect the respondents' WTP as such but merely to express their dislike for the good at issue.



• Loomis, J. B. (2000) “Can environmental economic valuation techniques aid ecological economics and wildlife conservation?,” Wildlife Society Bulletin 28(1) 52-60.
  
  [1 cites as of 3/16/01] I evaluate the potential usefulness of nonmarket valuation concepts and techniques from environmental economics for improving wildlife conservation. The concepts include distinguishing between on-site recreation use value and off- site passive use or existence values. In addition, I review 3 nonmarket valuation techniques. I illustrate the concepts and use of the technique of contingent valuation with a case study of valuation of increased ecosystem services for a riverine ecosystem. Results suggested that the benefits to households living along the river exceeded the costs of water rental from farmers and conservation easements.



• Loomis, J. B. (2000) “Vertically summing public good demand curves: An empirical comparison of economic versus political jurisdictions,” Land Economics 76(2) 312-321.
  
  [0 cites as of 3/16/01] Fiscal equivalence for efficient provision of a public good requires perfect correspondence between political and economic jurisdictions. However, the spatial extent of the economic jurisdiction is ail empirical question. Drawing on forts survey-based valuation studies, we measure the "relative public good benefit gradient" as a function of residential location from six natural resource public goods. The results indicate commonly used state political jurisdictions reflect an average of 13% of total benefits in the economic jurisdiction, although with a logarithmic form for distance the upper confidence interval of state benefits can include 100% for some species.(JEL H41; D61)



• Kotchen, M. J., and S. D. Reiling (2000) “Environmental attitudes, motivations, and contingent valuation of nonuse values: a case study involving endangered species,” Ecological Economics 32(1) 93-107.
  
  [0 cites as of 3/16/01] This paper explores relationships among environmental attitudes, nonuse values for endangered species, and underlying motivations for contingent valuation (CV) responses. The approach combines techniques from the attitude-behavior and economic valuation literature. Attitudes are measured with the New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) scale, and economic values are derived from a referendum; CV survey for peregrine falcons and shortnose sturgeons. Respondents with stronger pro- environmental attitudes are found more likely to provide legitimate yes/no responses, while those with weaker attitudes are more likely to protest hypothetical CV scenarios. Analysis reveals environmental attitudes as a significant explanatory variable of yes/no responses: whereby stronger pro- environmental attitudes result in higher probabilities of responding 'yes'. Pro-environmental attitudes are also shown to result in higher estimates of mean willingness to pay (WTP). Significant relationships are found between environmental altitudes and nonuse motivations. Specifically, pro- environmental attitudes are associated with stronger reliance on ethical motives for species protection. These results are discussed as they relate to testing predictions in the literature about potential bias in CV studies and to supporting National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) recommendations for improving CV reliability. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.



• Eiswerth, M. E., et al. (2000) “The value of water levels in water-based recreation: A pooled revealed preference/contingent behavior model,” Water Resources Research 36(4) 1079-1086.
  
  [0 cites as of 3/16/01] In this paper we present estimated recreation values for preventing a decline in water levels at, and even the total loss of, a large western lake that is drying up. We use a Poisson version of the count data travel cost model; however, in addition to and in combination with revealed preference (RP) data, we employ contingent behavior (CB) responses to hypothetical questions on alternative water levels and number of trips. The pooled model used allows for tests of differences between results using RP and CB data. This particular pooled RP/CB approach has not to our knowledge previously been applied to examine the values of alternative water quantities in water- based recreation.



• Judez, L., et al. (2000) “Influence of bid and subsample vectors on the welfare measure estimate in dichotomous choice contingent valuation: Evidence from a case-study,” Journal of Environmental Management 60(3) 253-265.
  
  [0 cites as of 3/16/01] After briefly outlining recent studies on the formulation of dichotomous choice contingent valuation surveys, the authors describe the sampling design procedures followed to assess the recreational value of the 'Tablas de Daimiel' National Park, in which the truncated mean was used as the welfare measure. With the data obtained from 167 interviews, a posteriori Monte Carlo simulations were conducted to estimates bias and Variance of the welfare measure estimator, varying the following parameters: (1) the number and magnitude of the bids; (2) allocation of the sample among the various bid levels; and (3) the value used to truncate the willingness-to-pay distribution. Welfare measure estimator bias was found to be negligible in all the experiments conducted-each one with 1000 samples containing 400 observations - whereas sample allocation proved to have a greater effect on the accuracy of the welfare estimator than the number or magnitude of the bids. Here, the accuracy of the truncated mean estimates obtained with designs using the Cooper method is compared, for different truncation points, with the accuracy of the estimates obtained using an empirically constructed bid vector and a subsample size vector determined as per the Duffield and Patterson approach. The latter were found to be comparable to the Cooper optimal designs. (C) 2000 Academic Press.



• Daniels, R. F., and D. A. Hensher (2000) “Valuation of environmental impacts of transport projects - The challenge of self-interest proximity,” Journal of Transport Economics and Policy 34 189-214.
  
  [1 cites as of 3/16/01] Notable progress has been made in valuing some benefits of transport projects, such as traveltime savings, but we are struggling to identify monetary values at the individual project level for many environmental attributes, such as changes in open space, noise, air quality, greenhouse gas emissions, and amenity. The difficulty may be aligned to the idea of attribute proximity to the self-interest paradigm. The empirical findings presented here, based on stated-choice experiments, suggest that environmental attributes that are distant in self-interest proximity, such as open space, are unlikely to be appropriately valued when mixed in a trade-off with attributes close in self-interest proximity, such as travel time or reductions in local traffic, unless noticeable gains in self-interest attributes accompany desirable levels of attributes defining environmental impacts. This finding has important implications for the design of empirical studies using stated-choice methods for valuation.



• Jorgensen, B. S., and G. J. Syme (2000) “Protest responses and willingness to pay: attitude toward paying for stormwater pollution abatement,” Ecological Economics 33(2) 251-265.
  
  [1 cites as of 3/16/01] In contingent valuation (CV) surveys, there is often a proportion of individuals who are not willing to pay to obtain (avoid) an increase (decrease) in some attribute of a particular environmental public good. Some of these respondents might protest an aspect of the CV survey (e.g. payment vehicle) or the behavioral intention (i.e. willingness to pay, WTP) constituting the measure of economic value. Respondents' attitudes toward the behavior of paying for a particular public good may contribute to the decision to pay independent of other explanatory variables, such as the price of the intervention, household income, and methodological characteristics of the CV survey. Moreover, attitude toward paying for the good may manifest in protest responses as a reaction to higher prices and methodological factors (e.g. the payment vehicle). To the extent that protest beliefs are dependent on such matters of survey design, they may be alleviated through changes in CV methodology. However, to the extent that protest beliefs are a reaction to the act of paying, methodological remedies may not be effective. CV surveys of stormwater pollution abatement were conducted in four Australian state capital cities. The surveys differed with respect to the type of pollution abatement intervention, the payment regime, the vector of prices used in the dichotomous choice question, and the institution responsible for implementing the stormwater pollution intervention. Protest beliefs were measured for all respondents irrespective of their responses to the WTP question. Results indicated that attitude toward paying underpinned protest beliefs regarding the role of government in stormwater management and individual rights to unpolluted waterways. This attitude was present in each city sample despite methodological differences between the CV surveys. Attitude toward paying explained variability in WTP, and was a larger predictor than was price. Household income was significantly associated with attitude toward paying, and this relationship was also invariant over city samples. Protest beliefs were not independent of either the WTP question or demographic factors, such as household income. Rather, these beliefs were related to WTP through attitudes toward the act of paying for stormwater pollution abatement. Censoring protest responses in the present study would bias CV samples toward those individuals who an favorably disposed toward paying for environmental public goods and those from higher income households. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.



• Calia, P., and E. Strazzera (2000) “Bias and efficiency of single versus double bound models for contingent valuation studies: a Monte Carlo analysis,” Applied Economics 32(10) 1329-1336.
  
  [0 cites as of 3/16/01] The dichotomous choice contingent valuation method can be used either in the single or double bound formulation. The former is easier to implement, while the latter is known to be more efficient. We analyse the bias of the ML estimates produced by either model, and the gain in efficiency associated to the double bound model, in different experimental settings. We find that there are no relevant differences in point estimates given by the two models, even for small sample size. The greater efficiency of the double bound is confirmed, although differences tend to reduce by increasing the sample size. Provided that a reliable pretest is conducted, and the sample size is large, use of the single rather than the double bound model is warranted.



• Brouwer, R. (2000) “Environmental value transfer: state of the art and future prospects,” Ecological Economics 32(1) 137-152.
  
  [1 cites as of 3/16/01] The main objectives of the paper are to (1) give an overview of the state of the art of environmental value transfer, (2) discuss its prospects and potential role in CBA as a decision- support tool, and (3) provide further guidelines for proper use and application. Environmental value or benefit transfer is a technique in which the results of studies on monetary environmental valuation are applied to new policy contexts. The technique is controversial, not least because of academic and political reservations over the usefulness and technical feasibility of economic valuation tools to demonstrate the importance of environmental values in project or programme appraisals. Testing of environmental value transfer so far has been unable to validate the practice. Taking into account the conditions set out in the literature for valid and reliable value transfer, most transfers appear to result in substantial transfer errors. This paper discusses why and addresses the question of which factors may have been overlooked. It is argued that the problem is much more fundamental than previously acknowledged. Strict guidelines in terms of quantitative adjustment mechanisms to valid value transfer are meaningless if the more fundamental issue of differences in the very nature of the values elicited is not addressed at the same time. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.



• Hurle, J. B. (2000) “Valuing environmental preferences. Theory and practice of the contingent valuation method in the US, EU and developing countries,” European Review of Agricultural Economics 27(2) 245-247.
  
  [0 cites as of 3/16/01]



• Chavas, J. P. (2000) “Ecosystem valuation under uncertainty and irreversibility,” Ecosystems 3(1) 11-15.
  
  [0 cites as of 3/16/01]



• Cummings, R. G., and M. B. Walker (2000) “Measuring the effectiveness of voluntary emission reduction programmes,” Applied Economics 32(13) 1719-1726.
  
  [0 cites as of 3/16/01] This paper examines the evaluation of state environmental policies aimed at reducing ground level ozone in order to meet air quality standards set by the US Environmental Protection Agency. Several states with metropolitan areas that violate federal air quality regulations have adopted voluntary emission reduction programmes. These programmes focus on emissions from mobile sources, with the chief source being the automobile. States are allowed to claim credit towards bringing their metro areas closer to compliance with regulations only if they can provide credible evidence that these voluntary programmes are successful in reducing emissions. A model is developed to forecast aggregate traffic volumes so that one can assess the impact of the programme in reducing traffic flows during 'Ozone Action Days'. Background information on the difficulties of measuring the ozone problem and on the recent policies adopted by the US EPA is provided. Using data from the Atlanta, Georgia metropolitan area, the accuracy of the model is demonstrated and preliminary analysis of whether the programmes which began in the summer of 1998 has had the desired impact is provided.



• Clark, J., J. Burgess, and C. M. Harrison (2000) “"I struggled with this money business": respondents' perspectives on contingent valuation,” Ecological Economics 33(1) 45-62.
  
  [2 cites as of 3/16/01] In the long-running debates about the validity and legitimacy of contingent valuation (CV), very little research has engaged directly with respondents during or after the survey to explore what individuals' willingness to pay (WTP) figure meant. This paper presents the results of qualitative research with respondents to a CV survey carried out as part of the appraisal of a specific nature conservation policy in the UK. The results show that respondents' questioned the validity of their WTP figures through discussion of the difficulties they experienced in framing a meaningful reply. Significant difficulties included problems in contextualising what the scheme was and how much it might be worth in both monetary and non-monetary terms; an inability to work out a value for one scheme in isolation from others in other parts of the UK; and feelings that values for nature were not commensurable with monetary valuation. Turning to the legitimacy of CV, participants in the research challenged claims that CV is a democratic process for ensuring that public values are incorporated in policy decisions. Recognizing that hard economic choices have to be made in order to achieve nature conservation goals, participants argued for a decision-making institution where local people could contribute to environmental policy decisions through dialogue with scientists and policy-makers. In the final part of the paper, this project is compared with three studies that have also used qualitative approaches with respondents during and/or after a CV survey. The paper concludes that more context-specific, qualitative research with respondents is needed to explore further the conclusion that CV may not be a good methodology for capturing complex, cultural values for nature and landscape. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.



• Burgess, J., J. Clark, and C. Harrison (2000) “Culture, communication, and the information problem in contingent valuation surveys: a case study of a Wildlife Enhancement Scheme,” Environment and Planning C-Government and Policy 18(5) 505-524.
  
  [0 cites as of 3/16/01] Contingent valuation (CV) is a technique for providing estimates of the monetary value of public goods which have no market. The authors consider whether the information provided for the hypothetical market enables respondents to express their 'true' preference for the 'good': or whether their willingness to pay is dependent on the quantity and quality of information provided in the survey. They argue that a cultural perspective in which the CV transaction is viewed as a communicative 'dialogue-at-a-distance' between researchers and respondents through the medium of the CV text provides more insight into the encoding and decoding of the 'good'-in this case an agri-enviromnent policy to enhance nature conservation on an internationally significant wetland in South East England. They argue that, within its own scientific parameters, CV surveys are unable to capture fully all the aspects of the 'good' to be valued. The problem is more acute when the 'good' represents the uncertain outcomes tin terms of landscape and biodiversity) of a policy. Without a complete specification, which may well be an impossibility for environmental 'goods': respondents are able to bring their own readings to their interpretation of the scenario. This means that CV researchers cannot know precisely what 'good' respondents were attempting to 'value'. The authors follow the production of the CV scenario for the valuation of the Pevensey Levels Wildlife Enhancement Scheme; conduct a critical discourse analysis to demonstrate how the linguistic and visual representations inevitably fulfil rhetorical functions; and then present the deliberations of respondents to the CV survey who participated in in-depth discussion groups after completion of the survey.



• Carson, R. T. (2000) “Contingent valuation: A user's guide,” Environmental Science & Technology 34(8) 1413-1418.
  
  [1 cites as of 3/16/01] Contingent valuation (CV) is a survey-based method frequently used for placing monetary values on environmental goods and services not bought and sold in the marketplace. CV is usually the only feasible method for including passive-use considerations in an economic analysis, a practice that has engendered considerable controversy. The issue of what a CV study tries to value is first addressed from the perspective of a policy-maker, and then the controversy over the inclusion of passive-use is taken up in more detail. The major issues and positions taken in the technical debate over the use of CV are summarized from a user's perspective. Key design and implementation issues involved in undertaking a CV survey are examined, and the reader is provided with a set of factors to examine in assessing the quality of a CV study.



• Ethier, R. G., et al. (2000) “A comparison of hypothetical phone and mail contingent valuation responses for green-pricing electricity programs,” Land Economics 76(1) 54-67.
  
  [0 cites as of 3/16/01] This study provides the first contingent valuation phone-mail comparison that meets current standards for response rates, draws from a general population, is relevant to the valuation of general environmental goods, and alloyw comparisons with actual participation rates. Social desirability effects are found to be more prevalent in phone responses to subjective questions, but do not appear to affect hypothetical participation decisions: calibrated and uncalibrated hypothetical participation rates are statistically similar across modes. As such, neither mode appears to dominate from the perspective of providing more valid estimates of actual participation decisions. (JEL Q41).



• Gregory, R. S. (2000) “Valuing environmental policy options: A case study comparison of multiattribute and contingent valuation survey methods,” Land Economics 76(2) 151-173.
  
  [0 cites as of 3/16/01] This paper describes a promising new evaluation approach, called a "value integration survey," that uses the objectives and tradeoffs expressed by participants to value environmental policy options. This constructive technique, which builds on the interactive elicitation process of decision analysts, assists stakeholders in clarifying their values and in agreeing on a policy alternative. The paper compares this multiattribute valuation method to contingent valuation surveys, describes the sequence of respondents' tasks, and presents results from a case study comparison of contingent valuation and value- integration survey methods in the context of valuing options for fire control in Oregon's old-growth forests.



• Carlson, J. L. (2000) “Hypothetical surveys versus real commitments: further evidence,” Applied Economics Letters 7(7) 447-450.
  
  [0 cites as of 3/16/01] The contingent valuation method is frequently used to estimate willingness to pay for environmental services. However, numerous studies have raised serious questions about the validity and reliability of such estimates. The study reported here extends the analysis of hypothetical versus real commitments by considering the effects of alternative indicators of WTP in the hypothetical setting. While part of the results confirm the findings of previous studies - CV methods can result in an overestimate of actual mean WTP - evidence is also produced that a carefully designed CV instrument can produce an estimate of mean WTP that is much closer to actual mean WTP than previous studies would suggest.



• Hanley, N., and D. MacMillan (2000) “Contingent valuation versus choice experiments: Estimating the benefits of environmentally sensitive areas in Scotland: Reply,” Journal of Agricultural Economics 51(1) 127-130.
  
  [0 cites as of 3/16/01]



• Halvorsen, B. (2000) “Comparing ranking and contingent valuation for valuing human lives, applying nested and non-nested logit models,” Environmental & Resource Economics 17(1) 1-19.
  
  [0 cites as of 3/16/01] The aim of this paper is to investigate whether respondents perceive a discrete-choice contingent valuation (DC-CVM) question differently from a ranking question. We combine the two approaches to value public projects that try to prevent people from dying prematurely. The combined valuation procedure enables us to investigate the internal consistency of the utility structure between choices, applying nested and non- nested logit models. If the preference structure is allowed to shift, the relative utility weights of the attributes differ between the valuation questions, and the willingness-to-pay (WTP) estimate from the combined procedure changes.



• Hailu, A., W. L. Adamowicz, and P. C. Boxall (2000) “Complements, substitutes, budget constraints and valuation - Application of a multi-program environmental valuation method,” Environmental & Resource Economics 16(1) 51-68.
  
  [0 cites as of 3/16/01] This study employs a multi-program contingent valuation (CVM) design to simultaneously assess the value of three ecosystem conservation programs in Alberta, Canada. The design is different from most other CVM designs and has several different features including the natural incorporation of direct reminders of substitute/complementary programs and budget constraints. In contrast to the findings of other studies, two of the environmental programs appear to be complements and other combinations of the programs suggest an absence of substitution effects. The multi-program model is more informative and robust in terms of theoretical validity and expected relationships with demographic and recreational characteristics of the respondents.



• Frykblom, P. (2000) “Willingness to pay and the choice of question format: experimental results,” Applied Economics Letters 7(10) 665-667.
  
  [0 cites as of 3/16/01] This study revisits the issue of hypothetical and actual willingness to pay. In two recent letters the validity of the contingent valuation method has been questioned. The studies include comparisons of hypothetical and actual economic commitments that were elicited through two different question formats. However, in order to attribute a difference in responses to a hypothetical bias, it must first be shown that the question formats generate equal responses under the same conditions. This letter not only contains the same comparison as the two recent letters, subsequent comparisons to investigate the question formats are also conducted. The rejection of equality between the two question formats raises questions concerning previous results.



• Frykblom, P., and J. F. Shogren (2000) “An experimental testing of anchoring effects in discrete choice questions,” Environmental & Resource Economics 16(3) 329-341.
  
  [0 cites as of 3/16/01] This paper re-examines the open ended/dichotomous choice question in the lab. It has earlier been suggested that the dichotomous choice format suffers from anchoring and yea- saying. Comparing actual economic commitments for a private good with a significant market value, we cannot reject the null hypothesis of equal WTP for the two formats. We conclude that problems with DC might be due to issues of how the survey is framed, not the DC question itself.



• Farber, S., and B. Griner (2000) “Valuing watershed quality improvements using conjoint analysis,” Ecological Economics 34(1) 63-76.
  
  [0 cites as of 3/16/01] This paper reports on a study of valuation of multiple stream quality improvements in an acid-mine degraded watershed in Western Pennsylvania. A technique extensively used in marketing research, conjoint (CJ) analysis, is used in conjunction with a random utility model (RUM) to establish shadow valuations for Various combinations of stream quality improvements in two streams. The technique shows promise in the valuation of ecosystems, which provide a complex variety of services. Several variations on respondent choice, binary choice (BC) and intensity of preference (IP) were used, where the latter allowed for an expression of degree of preference between status quo and alternative conditions. The sample constituted a panel data set from which user and non-user valuations were distinguished. In addition, sample respondents were identified by the distances of their residences to the stream sites, permitting the analysis of effects of distance on quality improvement valuations. These valuations suggested that persons living within roughly 50 miles of the evaluated stream segments place some positive value on stream improvements. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.



• Aldy, J. E., R. A. Kramer, and T. P. Holmes (1999) “Environmental equity and the conservation of unique ecosystems: An analysis of the distribution of benefits for protecting southern Appalachian spruce-fir forests,” Society & Natural Resources 12(2) 93-106.
  
  [0 cites as of 3/16/01] Some critics in the environmental equity literature argue that low-income populations disproportionately have environmental risks while the wealthy and better educated gain disproportionately from protecting unique ecosystems. We test this hypothesis in an analysis of the decline of southern Appalachian spruce-fir forests. We calculate willingness-to-pay measures for forest protection through a contingent valuation survey. Survey respondents consider spruce-fir forest protection to be a normal good (income elasticity: 0.421). Education does not influence willingness to pay. In an assessment of willingness to pay scaled by income, we found that income has a negative effect, implying that as income increases, willingness to pay as a percentage of income decreases. Education weakly influences willingness to pay in this assessment. Given the substantial existence and bequest values associated with these forests, these results substantiate our rejection of the hypothesis that conserving this unique ecosystem only benefits the wealthy and better educated.



• Brouwer, R., et al. (1999) “Public attitudes to contingent valuation and public consultation,” Environmental Values 8(3) 325-347.
  
  [0 cites as of 3/16/01] The use of cost-benefit analysis (CBA) in environmental decision-making and the contingent valuation (CV) technique as input into traditional CBA to elicit environmental values in monetary terms has stimulated an extensive debate. Critics have questioned the appropriateness of both the method and the technique. Some alternative suggestions for the elicitation of environmental values are based on a social process of deliberation. However, just like traditional economic theory, these alternative approaches may be questioned on their implicit value judgements regarding the legitimacy of the social-political organisation of the process of value elicitation. Instead of making assumptions a priori, research efforts should be focused on the processes by which actual public attitudes and preferences towards the environment can best be elicited and fed into environmental or other public policy decision-making. In the study presented in this paper, support was found for both the individual WTP based approach and a participatory social deliberation approach to inform the environmental decision-making process, suggesting that a combination of both approaches is most appropriate.



• Berk, R. A., and R. G. Fovell (1999) “Public perceptions of climate change: A 'willingness to pay' assessment,” Climatic Change 41(3-4) 413-446.
  
  [1 cites as of 3/16/01] In this paper, we examine for a sample of Los Angeles residents their willingness to pay to prevent significant climate change. We employ a fractional factorial design in which various climate change scenarios differing in ways consistent with existing variation in climate are presented to respondents. These are contrasted to respondents' current climate before willingness to pay is elicited. Thus, the focus is on climate change as it may be experienced locally. We also try to determine the kinds of value that are driving respondents' concerns. Among the key findings are that for these respondents, climate change leading to warmer local temperatures is a greater worry than climate change leading to colder local temperatures. In addition, climate change leading to less precipitation locally is of more concern that climate change leading to more precipitation locally. Finally, use value may be the most important kind of value, but a more cautious interpretation is that respondents are not yet able to clearly distinguish between different climate change consequences.



• Boman, M., G. Bostedt, and B. Kristrom (1999) “Obtaining welfare bounds in discrete-response valuation studies: A non-parametric approach,” Land Economics 75(2) 284-294.
  
  [1 cites as of 3/16/01] Welfare change estimates obtained from discrete-response contingent valuation experiments normally assume a particular distribution of,willingness-to-pay (WTP). Using conventional microeconomic theory, we derive upper and lower bounds on such estimates. These bounds are interpreted statistically in terms of non-parametric estimators of mean WTP and its variance. Two contingent valuation surveys illustrate the proposed bounds, and the performances of the variance estimators are scrutinized with a Monte Carlo simulation. All calculations can be made by hand, simplifying communication among those involved in interpreting results from contingent valuation studies using discrete-response data. (JEL Q26).



• Berrens, R. P., M. McKee, and M. C. Farmer (1999) “Incorporating distributional considerations in the safe minimum standard approach: endangered species and local impacts,” Ecological Economics 30(3) 461-474.
  
  [1 cites as of 3/16/01] Explicitly incorporating current distributional concerns into the safe minimum standard (SMS) approach is the objective of this study. The SMS approach is a collective choice process that prescribes protecting a minimum level of a renewable natural resource unless the social costs of doing so are somehow excessive or intolerably high. More complete implementation of an SMS approach, if it is to be a pragmatic policy tool, requires that distributional considerations be included in determining whether the economic consequences of preservation actions are intolerable. Two case studies involving the US Endangered Species Act are used to illustrate how distributional concerns might be incorporated into the SMS approach. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.



• Bateman, I. J., A. A. Lovett, and J. S. Brainard (1999) “Developing a methodology for benefit transfers using geographical information systems: Modelling demand for woodland recreation,” Regional Studies 33(3) 191-205.
  
  [2 cites as of 3/16/01] This paper develops a methodology for implementing benefit transfers through the medium of a geographical information system. Data from a survey of visitors to a woodland site in eastern England were used to estimate an arrivals function which was then utilized to predict visits to other locations. The validity of this function was tested against actual arrivals at locations in Wales and was found to be a satisfactory estimator of visits. This function was then used to generate predictions of visitor arrivals across Wales to simulate the impact of sites being converted into woodland. The visitor demand map generated by this analysis was then converted to a monetary equivalent using values derived from a cross-study analysis of the existing UK literature on the value of recreational visits to woodland. This final map provides a useful aid to optimal implementation of policies such as the Community Woodland Scheme which aims to target subsidies according to local demand. The paper concludes by highlighting limitations of the analysis and outlining possible extensions.



• Bergstrom, J. C., and P. De Civita (1999) “Status of benefits transfer in the United States and Canada: A review,” Canadian Journal of Agricultural Economics-Revue Canadienne D Agroeconomie 47(1) 79-87.
  
  [0 cites as of 3/16/01] Benefits transfer refers to the rise of existing benefit estimates in a different bur similar context compared with the original study that generated the benefit estimates. Benefits transfer techniques include fired value transfer, expert opinion and value estimator models. Although benefits transfer techniques are subject to a number of conceptual and empirical limitations, these techniques ore widely applied by government agencies as input into economic assessments of public policies and projects.



• Bingham, M., and G. Smith (1999) “CV format, cognitive processes, and expressed willingness to pay,” American Journal of Agricultural Economics 81(5) 1296-1296.
  
  [0 cites as of 3/16/01]



• Blamey, R. K., J. W. Bennett, and M. D. Morrison (1999) “Yea-saying in contingent valuation surveys,” Land Economics 75(1) 126-141.
  
  [2 cites as of 3/16/01] A number of recent papers have provided estimates of willingness to pay derived in contingent valuation surveys exceeding those revealed in experimental or real-life markets. One possible explanation for the overestimation of values is the presence of yea-saying. With the objective of reducing the occurrence of yea-saying, a new elicitation format, referred to as the dissonance-minimizing (DM)format, is proposed. An empirical comparison of the DM format with the conventional dichotomous-choice (DC) format and the ambivalence-reducing polychotomous choice (PC) format suggested by Ready, Whitehead, and Blomquist (1995) is made. Results are encouraging for the DM. (JEL Q26).



• Bulte, E. H., and G. C. Van Kooten (1999) “Marginal valuation of charismatic species: Implications for conservation,” Environmental & Resource Economics 14(1) 119-130.
  
  [1 cites as of 3/16/01] Most contingent valuation studies focus on total willingness to pay (WTP) as a measure of welfare change. For policy involving species preservation, however, it is important to distinguish between the benefits of preventing a species from going extinct and the benefits of preserving numbers above the minimum viable population (MVP) level. Once MVP is exceeded, marginal WTP becomes relevant. These propositions are illustrated for the case of one charismatic species whose management is much debated, minke whales in the Northeast Atlantic Ocean. It is shown that, for a given estimate of total preservation value, strict conservation and extinction can both be optimal. This finding highlights the importance of collecting marginal values in contingent valuation surveys.



• Buckland, S. T., et al. (1999) “Estimating mean willingness to pay from dichotomous choice contingent valuation studies,” Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series D-the Statistician 48 109-124.
  
  [0 cites as of 3/16/01] Methods for estimating mean willingness to pay for some environmental goal are reviewed. Logistic regression analysis of data from dichotomous choice contingent valuation studies often models the willingness-to-pay curve poorly. We develop solutions to this problem. We also show how to model responses as a function of several covariates, and how to model the case in which a proportion of respondents is not willing to pay anything. Analytic and bootstrap methods for quantifying precision are developed. We illustrate the methods by using an example in which biodiversity losses due to acid rain deposition in Scotland are valued.



• Jorgensen, B. S., et al. (1999) “Protest responses in contingent valuation,” Environmental & Resource Economics 14(1) 131-150.
  
  [2 cites as of 3/16/01] A significant number of respondents to contingent valuation surveys tend to either state a zero bid, or refuse to state a bid at all, for reasons associated with the process of valuation. These protest responses are routinely removed from contingent valuation samples because it is assumed that they are not indicative of respondents' 'true' values. The censoring of protest responses has led to the emergence of a definitional controversy. One view is that the definition of protest responses and the rules for censoring them are dependent on whether the practitioner conceives of the contingent valuation survey as a market or as a referendum. However, what is not acknowledged is the possibility that protest responses and their meaning may vary according to the type of good being valued, the elicitation format, and the interaction between these elements and external factors. This potential renders the development of unambiguous rules for censoring protest responses difficult. Moreover, when willingness to pay is viewed as a behavioural intention, it becomes important to determine what the responses actually mean. This approach does not assume an interpretative position a priori against which the responses should be judged, but seeks to inform an existing understanding which is inadequate.



• Chilton, S. M., and W. G. Hutchinson (1999) “Do focus groups contribute anything to the contingent valuation process?,” Journal of Economic Psychology 20(4) 465-483.
  
  [5 cites as of 3/16/01] The qualitative aspects of the Contingent Valuation Method (CVM) are largely ignored by (environmental) economists. This paper aims to instigate a discussion on (a) the usefulness of qualitative data to the contingent valuation process in general; and (b) the use and applicability of the focus group method in particular. We consider the range and uses of focus groups within the CVM and highlight problems with their analysis that have, to date, largely been ignored. A potential solution to circumvent the problem of non-independence of group data is suggested. While there are several distinct and worthwhile uses for qualitative data, focus groups should not automatically be taken as the only or best method to produce these insights even though they are the major one considered in this article. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.



• Chilton, S. M., and W. G. Hutchinson (1999) “Focus groups and the contingent valuation process: A reply,” Journal of Economic Psychology 20(4) 495-498.
  
  [0 cites as of 3/16/01]



• Chilton, S. M., and M. G. Hutchinson (1999) “Exploring divergence between respondent and researcher definitions of the good in contingent valuation studies,” Journal of Agricultural Economics 50(1) 1-16.
  
  [3 cites as of 3/16/01] In Contingent Valuation studies, researchers often base their definition of the environmental good on scientific/expert consensus. However; respondents may not hold this same commodity definition prior to the transaction. This raises questions as to the potential for staging a satisfactory transaction, based on Fischoff and Furby's (1988) criteria. Some unresolved issues regarding the provision of information to respondents to facilitate such a transaction are highlighted. In this paper; we apply content analysis to focus group discussions and develop a set of rules which take account of the non-independence of group data to explore whether researcher and respondents' prior definitions are in any way similar We use the results to guide information provision in a subsequent questionnaire.



• Kahneman, D., I. Ritov, and D. Schkade (1999) “Economic preferences or attitude expressions? An analysis of dollar responses to public issues,” Journal of Risk and Uncertainty 19(1-3) 203-235.
  
  [3 cites as of 3/16/01] Participants in contingent valuation surveys and jurors setting punitive damages in civil trials provide answers denominated in dollars. These answers are better understood as expressions of attitudes than as indications of economic preferences. Well- established characteristics of attitudes and of the core process of affective valuation explain several robust features of dollar responses: high correlations with other measures of attractiveness or aversiveness, insensitivity to scope, preference reversals, and the high variability of dollar responses relative to other measures of the same attitude.



• Poe, G. L., and R. C. Bishop (1999) “Valuing the incremental benefits of groundwater protection when exposure levels are known,” Environmental & Resource Economics 13(3) 341-367.
  
  [1 cites as of 3/16/01] Both economic theory and psychological research indicate that benefit functions for reductions in health risk exposures may be conditional on current exposures. Using nitrates found in household wells, it is demonstrated that perceptions of health risks across exposure levels are affected by the individual's current exposure level, thus providing support for a conditional benefits function approach. Functions of conditional incremental benefits are estimated from a contingent valuation study of households that had been informed of their water test results. Incremental benefits reach a peak at an intermediate level of nitrates and then decline. Possible explanations for this nonconvexity are provided.



• Whitehead, J. C., and T. J. Hoban (1999) “Testing for temporal reliability in contingent valuation with time for changes in factors affecting demand,” Land Economics 75(3) 453-465.
  
  [0 cites as of 3/16/01] We develop a temporal reliability test of the contingent valuation method. Separate random samples were administered the same telephone survey five years apart. In the retest, respondents have less favorable attitudes toward the environment. Given this result, a temporally reliable contingent valuation would find lower willingness to pay, We find that the estimates are temporally reliable. After accounting for attitudes which have changed over the Jive-yens period, values are not significantly different Jive years apart. This study provides additional evidence that use of the contingent valuation method can provide useful information for environmental policy analysis, (JEL Q26).



• Poe, G. L. (1999) “"Maximizing the environmental benefits per dollar expended": An economic interpretation and review of agricultural environmental benefits and costs,” Society & Natural Resources 12(6) 571-598.
  
  [0 cites as of 3/16/01] The 1996 Farm Bill marked a shift in agricultural environmental legislation toward an economic framework that maximizes the environmental benefits per dollar Expended. This article reviews the valuation literature on agricultural environmental benefits and costs, focusing on both positive (amenity values) and negative (ground and surface water contamination) externalities. External benefits and costs are demonstrated to be large, concurrent, and widely varying by location and affected population. The resulting mosaic of benefits and costs suggests a further need to integrate policy and research if we are to truly adopt an economic orientation in agricultural environmental policy.



• Poe, G., et al. (1999) “Payment certainty in discrete choice contingent valuation responses: Results from a field validity test,” American Journal of Agricultural Economics 81(5) 1295-1296.
  
  [0 cites as of 3/16/01]



• Prato, T. (1999) “Multiple attribute decision analysis for ecosystem management,” Ecological Economics 30(2) 207-222.
  
  [0 cites as of 3/16/01] Implementation of an ecosystem approach to natural resource management requires evaluation of a broad array of ecological services in a multidimensional, community-based watershed approach that empowers people to make informed management decisions. Conventional economic approaches that assign values to ecological services (contingent valuation) or that evaluate the efficiency of preserving and restoring those services (cost-benefit analysis) are quite limited for this purpose. In addition to the methodological difficulties encountered in applying contingent valuation and cost-benefit analysis, several problems occur when nonmarket values of ecological services are estimated independently of ecosystem planning and management. Multiple attribute decision-making (MADM) is an alternative conceptual framework for evaluating and selecting land and water resource management systems (LWRMS). Advantages of MADM are that it facilitates community-based collaborative decision-making, avoids some of the ethical, theoretical and practical shortcomings of conventional economic approaches, does not require assigning monetary Values to ecological services, allows consideration of multiple attributes and is not culturally biased. The MADM model described in this paper explains how a property manager selects the most preferred LWRMS for a property based on their multiple stochastic attributes. Application of the model requires determination of the technically feasible LWRMS for a property and specification of the socially acceptable ranges of attributes. This information is combined with economic/biophysical simulations to derive the efficient combination of attributes and LWRMS for a property. The property manager then selects the most preferred combination of attributes from the efficient combinations of attributes for a property using utility maximization, surrogate worth tradeoff, free iterative search, analytical hierarchy process, Aspiration-Reservation Based Decision Support System or stochastic dominance, A watershed alliance can evaluate the sustainability of the most preferred LWRMS for properties in a watershed based on a weak or strong sustainability criterion. If the alliance determines that the most preferred LWRMS are not sustainable, then an index of attributes is used to evaluate the cost effectiveness of alternative public policies for stimulating the adoption of more sustainable LWRMS. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.



• O'Conor, R. M., M. Johannesson, and P. O. Johansson (1999) “Stated preferences, real behaviour and anchoring: Some empirical evidence,” Environmental & Resource Economics 13(2) 235-248.
  
  [1 cites as of 3/16/01] We compare different contingent valuation question formats with each other and with observed behaviour for a non-monetary estimation task, the expected number of kilometers travelled by automobile. Open-ended questions, open-ended follow-up questions, dichotomous choice (DC) questions, and double-bound DC questions are included. The single and double-bound DC questions result in an estimated mean about twice as high as the actual value and the open-ended mean. The DC question overestimation seems to be due to an anchoring effect leading to "yea-saying" behaviour. Our results about the difference between DC questions and open-ended questions is consistent with the pattern observed in contingent valuations studies of the willingness to pay. Our results indicates that DC questions seem to be associated with a general overestimation problem that is present even for simple non-monetary estimation tasks.



• Viscusi, W. K., and J. T. Hamilton (1999) “Are risk regulators rational? Evidence from hazardous waste cleanup decisions,” American Economic Review 89(4) 1010-1027.
  
  [1 cites as of 3/16/01]



• Kling, C. (1999) “Determining the value of non-marketed goods: Economic, psychological, and policy relevant aspects of contingent valuation methods,” American Journal of Agricultural Economics 81(2) 484-485.
  
  [0 cites as of 3/16/01]



• Mullarkey, D., and R. Bishop (1999) “Sensitivity to scope: Evidence from a CVM study of wetlands,” American Journal of Agricultural Economics 81(5) 1313-1313.
  
  [0 cites as of 3/16/01]



• Walker, M. E., et al. (1999) “Disparate WTA-WTP disparities: The influence of human versus natural causes,” Journal of Behavioral Decision Making 12(3) 219-232.
  
  [1 cites as of 3/16/01] A host of studies have shown that respondents typically provide larger values reflecting their willingness to accept compensation (WTA) for the loss of a product than amounts they would be willing to pay (WTP) to acquire the same product (Knetsch and Sniden, 1984; Cummings, Brookshire, and Schulze, 1986; Irwin, 1994). Meanwhile, other evidence indicates that causes for the deterioration or the damage of a product (either human or natural) will influence both WTA and WTP (Kahneman er al., 1993. Baron and Ritov, 1992). We conducted two experiments to determine whether human-caused versus naturally occurring events influenced disparities between WTA and WTP values. In the first experiment, residents of a Midwestern city were asked to provide WTA or WTP amounts for the removal of a street tree, either through planned city street widening or because of disease. In the second experiment, students at a large Midwestern university provided WTA and WTP amounts for two environmental scenarios: air quality and the cleanliness of a river. Results of both experiments indicate that the disparity between WTA and WTP is far greater when the damage was caused by humans. Copyright (C) 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.



• Cummings, R. G., and L. O. Taylor (1999) “Unbiased value estimates for environmental goods: A cheap talk design for the contingent valuation method,” American Economic Review 89(3) 649-665.
  
  [2 cites as of 3/16/01]



• Jorgensen, B. S. (1999) “Comments on Chilton and Hutchinson: Focus groups in the contingent valuation process: A real contribution or a missed opportunity?,” Journal of Economic Psychology 20(4) 485-489.
  
  [2 cites as of 3/16/01]



• Cunha-e-Sa, M. A., and M. M. Ducla-Soares (1999) “Specification tests for mixed demand systems with an emphasis on combining contingent valuation and revealed data,” Journal of Environmental Economics and Management 38(2) 215-233.
  
  [0 cites as of 3/16/01] In a world characterized by r unrationed goods (i.e., market goods) and (n - r) rationed goods, such as most environmental goods, necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of an underlying rational preference structure are derived based on a system of mixed demand functions with complete information. With incomplete information, the case of a partial demand system is addressed, and a test for separability is proposed. The implications for testing rationality in a world characterized by combined (RP and SP) individual data are examined for data consistency. Testable conditions are derived. (C) 1999 Academic Press.



• Johnston, R. J., and S. K. Swallow (1999) “Asymmetries in ordered strength of preference models: Implications of focus shift for discrete-choice preference estimation,” Land Economics 75(2) 295-310.
  
  [1 cites as of 3/16/01] This paper explores potential focus shift asymmetries in an ordered strength of preference model applied to contingent choice data. A focus shift occurs when respondents weight factors differently when assessing preference for an "accepted" scenario than they do wizen assessing preference for a "rejected" scenario, and may imply that respondents do not refer to a single underlying preference function. Using data drawn from a survey which addressed preferences for watershed management, the model results identified focus shift asymmetries in the ordered strength of preference model. The paper discusses implications for policy, survey design, and discrete-choice preference estimation. (JEL Q26).



• Reaves, D. W., R. A. Kramer, and T. P. Holmes (1999) “Does question format matter? Valuing an endangered species,” Environmental & Resource Economics 14(3) 365-383.
  
  [0 cites as of 3/16/01] A three-way treatment design is used to compare contingent valuation response formats. Respondents are asked to value an endangered species (the red-cockaded woodpecker) and the restoration of its habitat following a natural disaster. For three question formats (open-ended, payment card, and double- bounded dichotomous choice), differences in survey response rates, item non-response rates, and protest bids are examined. Bootstrap techniques are used to compare means across formats and to explore differences in willingness to pay (WTP) distribution functions. Convergent validity is found in a comparison of mean WTP values, although some differences are apparent in the cumulative distribution functions. Differences across formats are also identified in item non-response rates and proportion of protest bids. Overall, the payment card format exhibits desirable properties relative to the other two formats.



• Johnston, R. J., S. K. Swallow, and T. F. Weaver (1999) “Estimating willingness to pay and resource tradeoffs with different payment mechanisms: An evaluation of a funding guarantee for watershed management,” Journal of Environmental Economics and Management 38(1) 97-120.
  
  [0 cites as of 3/16/01] This study reports on a contingent choice survey in which respondents expressed their preferences for packages of watershed management outcomes, where these packages were assessed against alternative institutional characteristics of the funding mechanism. Specifically, this study addresses the issue of respondents' faith in the payment mechanism as an efficient and guaranteed funding source. Analyses of marginal willingness to pay for single variable changes, marginal rates of substitution among variable pairs, and willingness to pay for watershed management packages indicate the potential for significant impacts of payment mechanism attributes. Implications address ranking of policy packages and validity in estimating money-scared welfare impacts. (C) 1999 Academic Press.



• Morrison, M., J. Bennett, and R. Blamey (1999) “Valuing improved wetland quality using choice modeling,” Water Resources Research 35(9) 2805-2814.
  
  [2 cites as of 3/16/01] The main stated preference technique used for estimating environmental values is the contingent valuation method. In this paper the results of an application of an alternative technique, choice modeling, are reported. Choice modeling has been developed in the marketing and transport applications but has only been used in a handful of environmental applications, most of which have focused on use values. The case study presented here involves the estimation of the nonuse environmental values provided by the Macquarie Marshes, a major wetland in New South Wales, Australia. Estimates of the nonuse value the community places on preventing job losses are also presented. The reported models are robust, having high explanatory power and variables that are statistically significant and consistent with expectations. These results Provide support for the hypothesis that choice modeling can be used to estimate nonuse values for both environmental and social consequences of resource use changes.



• Reiser, B., and M. Shechter (1999) “Incorporating zero values in the economic valuation of environmental program benefits,” Environmetrics 10(1) 87-101.
  
  [0 cites as of 3/16/01] The contingent valuation method estimates individuals' willingness to pay (WTP) for non-market environmental assets via preferences elicited by either open-ended or dichotomous choice questions. Traditional analysis of such data has tended to ignore zero WTP values, or treat them in an unsatisfactory manner. Recently, spike models, which explicitly allow for and incorporate zero responses, have been suggested. The paper extends the spike model approach to allow for explanatory covariates, and shows how standard computer software can be used to carry out the computations. In addition, the paper develops estimates of mean or median willingness to pay as a function of these covariates. Copyright (C) 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.



• Lockwood, M. (1999) “Preference structures, property rights, and paired comparisons,” Environmental & Resource Economics 13(1) 107-122.
  
  [2 cites as of 3/16/01] The method of paired comparisons was used to determine the structure of survey participants' value expressions for Australian native forests. The same participants were also surveyed using the contingent valuation method (CVM). Data from the paired comparisons were used to construct preference maps which enabled identification of participants whose value expressions were structurally incompatible with economic welfare theory - in particular, those participants who expressed their values according to lexicographic preferences. For some of these participants, CVM results did not provide appropriate measures of WTP. The surveys also demonstrated the importance of allowing participants' own views on property rights to dictate the valuation context offered.



• Montesinos, M. (1999) “It may be silly, but it's an answer: The need to accept contingent valuation methodology in natural resource damage assessments,” Ecology Law Quarterly 26(1) 48-79.
  
  [0 cites as of 3/16/01]



• McLeod, D. M., and O. Bergland (1999) “Willingness-to-pay estimates using the double-bounded dichotomous-choice contingent valuation format: A test for validity and precision in a Bayesian framework,” Land Economics 75(1) 115-125.
  
  [0 cites as of 3/16/01] The Double-Bounded Dichotomous-Choice (DB-DC) Contingent Valuation format is thought to yield more precise welfare estimates. Questions remain about its validity. The initial bid may represent information with which respondents update their willingness to pay. A Bayesian model of respondent decision making is estimated for two data sets. The results indicate updating or shifts in respondent willingness to pay between iterated valuations. Nonparametric resting of the welfare estimates reveals that the model incorporating updating yields different values fram the standard model The expected increases in the precision of the DB-DC welfare estimates are lost when updating occurs. (JEL Q26).



• Hutchinson, W. G., and S. M. Chilton (1999) “Combining preference ordering and contingent valuation methods to assess non market benefit of alternative afforestation projects,” Journal of Rural Studies 15(1) 103-109.
  
  [0 cites as of 3/16/01] The application of the contingent valuation method (CVM) in this paper incorporates a prior preference ordering of several alternative future afforestation programmes which could be implemented in Ireland over the next decade. This particular experimental design is thereby shown to reveal the potentially conflicting preferences of different groups within society. These findings are used to devise appropriate CVM scenarios to take account, not only of the efficiency gains of choosing a single policy alternative over others, but also the effects on the distribution of non market benefit between different groups within society, arising from choice between alternatives. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.



• Werner, M. (1999) “Allowing for zeros in dichotomous-choice contingent-valuation models,” Journal of Business & Economic Statistics 17(4) 479-486.
  
  [0 cites as of 3/16/01] Dichotomous-choice contingent-valuation data are modeled using a mixture distribution. The standard parametric survival model is modified such that respondents in the lowest willingness-to- pay category may have either zero willingness to pay or a small positive willingness to pay. In comparison to the standard model, the mixture model leads to a dramatic reduction in estimates of mean willingness to pay. Covariates such as income are found to be more significant in determining the positive portion of the distribution of willingness to pay.



• Kolstad, C. D., and R. M. Guzman (1999) “Information and the divergence between willingness to accept and willingness to pay,” Journal of Environmental Economics and Management 38(1) 66-80.
  
  [0 cites as of 3/16/01] There is considerable empirical and experimental evidence that there is a divergence between willingness to accept compensation to give up a good and willingness to pay to obtain a good. This divergence persists even when the good in question is small relative to income, a result in apparent conflict with standard economic theory. This paper develops a theoretical bidding model with costly information acquisition to explain this divergence. The model generates a gap between offers to sell and bids to buy consistent with the experimental results. We argue that the model does a better job of explaining empirical and experimental data than either of the two commonly invoked theoretical explanations: the endowment effect and the substitution effect. (C) 1999 Academic Press.



• Willis, K. G., and G. D. Garrod (1999) “Angling and recreation values of low-flow alleviation in rivers,” Journal of Environmental Management 57(2) 71-83.
  
  [2 cites as of 3/16/01] This paper assesses the benefits to anglers and other recreation users of increasing flows along low-flow rivers to some environmentally acceptable flow regime (EAFR) from the current low-flow situation. Using different contingent valuation and stated preference techniques, the paper estimates the relative magnitude of the benefits of low-flow alleviation (LFA) to anglers compared with other recreation users. The benefits to anglers alone outweigh the costs of LFA in two of the seven rivers evaluated in south-west England. The value of informal recreation justifies LFA on another three rivers. Only where the costs of LFA are extremely high (in two of the seven rivers) do recreational benefits' fail to exceed the costs of implementing an environmentally acceptable flow regime in these rivers. The inclusion of recreation values in decisions on water abstraction would result in greater environmental protection of rivers in Britain. (C) 1999 Academic Press.



• McFadden, D. (1999) “Rationality for economists?,” Journal of Risk and Uncertainty 19(1-3) 73-105.
  
  [2 cites as of 3/16/01] Rationality is a complex behavioral theory that can be parsed into statements about preferences, perceptions, and process. This paper looks at the evidence on rationality that is provided by behavioral experiments, and argues that most cognitive anomalies operate through errors in perception that arise from the way information is stored, retrieved, and processed, or through errors in process that lead to formulation of choice problems as cognitive tasks that are inconsistent at least with rationality narrowly defined. The paper discusses how these cognitive anomalies influence economic behavior and measurement, and their implications for economic analysis.



• Giraud, K. L., J. B. Loomis, and R. L. Johnson (1999) “Internal and external scope in willingness-to-pay estimates for threatened and endangered wildlife,” Journal of Environmental Management 56(3) 221-229.
  
  [0 cites as of 3/16/01] Economic theory suggests willingness-to-pay (WTP) should be significantly higher for a comprehensive good than for a subset of that good. We tested this using both a split sample design (external scope test) and paired responses (internal scope test) for WTP for several endangered fish and wildlife species in the US. In the paired response case we corrected for correlation of willingness-to-pay responses using a bivariate probit model. Surprisingly, the independent split samples passed the scope test but the paired samples did not As the results contradict each other questions of validity for policy implications are raised. However using either approach, the benefit of maintaining critical habitat for these species exceeds the costs. (C) 1999 Academic Press.



• McDaniels, T. L. (1999) “(Mis)construal processes for contingent valuation questions: A commentary on "Construal processes in preference assessment",” Journal of Risk and Uncertainty 19(1-3) 169-170.
  
  [0 cites as of 3/16/01]



• Johannesson, M., et al. (1999) “Calibrating hypothetical willingness to pay responses,” Journal of Risk and Uncertainty 18(1) 21-32.
  
  [1 cites as of 3/16/01] Experimental data comparing hypothetical and real dichotomous choice responses for two different goods were used to estimate a statistical bias function to calibrate the hypothetical yes responses. The probability that a hypothetical yes response would be a real yes response was estimated as a function of the individual's self-assessed certainty of the hypothetical yes response (assessed on a 0-10 scale) and a variable representing the price level. Without calibration the hypothetical yes responses significantly exceeded the proportion of real yes responses, but after calibration the null hypothesis of no difference between hypothetical and real responses could not be rejected in any of the experiments.



• Willis, K. G. (1999) “Environmental resource valuation. Applications of the contingent valuation method in Italy,” European Review of Agricultural Economics 26(4) 563-565.
  
  [0 cites as of 3/16/01]



• Fischhoff, B., N. Welch, and S. Frederick (1999) “Construal processes in preference assessment,” Journal of Risk and Uncertainty 19(1-3) 139-164.
  
  [4 cites as of 3/16/01] Interpreting people's preferences requires understanding how they have construed their tasks, interpreting the proposed alternatives in the context where the evaluation is being m