SOME ISSUES IN DISCRETE RESPONSE CONTINGENT VALUATION STUDIES

Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Time and the Valuation of Environmental Resources

This paper considers the modeling strategies that have been used to incorporate time in revealed and stated preference methods for valuing environmental resources. After reviewing a subset of the economic models for describing time as an input to household production; time in creating habits and persistence in demand for particular services of environmental resources, and time as offering an opportunity for future consumption, the overview suggests that time has been used as a complement in production or consumption to marketed goods in each of these frameworks. The paper suggests two possible alternatives. This structure along with further restrictions to preferences or technology implies that there are other strategies for using revealed preference data to measure the economic value of changes in environmental quality.

Buying Time: Real and Hypothetical Offers

This paper provides the results of a field test of contingent valuation estimates within a willingness to accept framework. Using dichotomous choice questions in telephone-mail-telephone interviews, we compare responses to real and hypothetical offers to survey respondents for the opportunity to spend time in a second set of interviews on an undisclosed topic. Five hundred and forty people were randomly split between the real and hypothetical treatments. Our findings indicate no significant differences between people's choices with real and hypothetical offers. Choice models indicate the size of the offer and income were significant determinants of respondents' decisions, and these models were not significantly different between real and hypothetical offers.

PRICE, QUALITY, AND PESTICIDE RELATED HEALTH RISK CONSIDERATIONS IN FRUIT AND VEGETABLE PURCHASES: AN HEDONIC ANALYSIS OF TUCSON, ARIZONA SUPERMARKETS

National opinion polls indicate that pesticide residues on fresh fruits and vegetables remain an important concern of American consumers, despite a decade-long increase in per capita consumption levels for fresh fruits and vegetables. Increased availability of organically grown fruits and vegetables may change consumer produce purchase behavior which is often dominated by appearance considerations. Domestic consumers likely consider and tradeoff price, visual appearance, and health risk when buying fresh produce. This paper uses an hedonic framework to examine price, appearance, and health risk considerations made by Tucson, Arizona shoppers in 1994.Consumer/Household Economics, Demand and Price Analysis,

Non-Market Valuation and the Household

The purpose of this paper is to describe the implications of the collective model of household behavior for the methods used to estimate the economic value of non-marketed environmental resources. The effects of public good and risk are considered, along with revealed and stated preference methods. To the extent the collective framework is adopted, then recover of individual preferences from household behavior requires distinguishing how preference and within household income allocations affect choices.

HAVE INCENTIVE BASED POLICIES BEEN OVERSOLD?

Comparisons of alternative pollution control instruments over the past thirty years show quite disparate results for seemingly comparable situations. This research demonstrates how the magnitude of the estimated cost savings associated with incentive-based instruments is influenced by two important factors: (i) separability assumptions between emissions and output, and (ii) participation criteria.Environmental Economics and Policy,

Meta Analysis in Model Implementation: Choice Sets and the Valuation of Air Quality Improvements

We document the sensitivity of welfare estimates derived from discrete choice models to assumptions about the choice set. Such assumptions can affect welfare estimates through both the estimated parameters of the model and, conditional on the parameters, the substitution among alternatives. Our analysis involves estimates of the benefits of air quality improvements in Los Angeles based on discrete choices of neighborhood and housing. We further illustrate the use of meta analysis to document and summarize voluminous information derived from repeated sensitivity analyses.Meta analysis, random utility model, choice set, air quality, housing