INCOME REMINDER AND THE DIVERGENCE BETWEEN WILLINGNESS-TO-PAY ESTIMATES ASSOCIATED WITH DICHOTOMOUS CHOICE AND OPEN-ENDED ELICITATION FORMATS

Abstract

This study investigates whether an income reminder can reduce the divergence between the willingness-to-pay (WTP) estimates associated with the open-ended (OE) and dichotomous choice (DC) elicitation formats. Results show that without an income reminder, WTP estimate associated with DC elicitation format is about 1.66 times as large as that associated with OE elicitation format. With an income reminder, the WTP estimate associated with DC format decreased while the WTP estimate associated with OE format increased, and the divergence between the WTP estimates was almost eliminated.dichotomous choice, open-ended, income reminder, water quality improvement, willingness-to-pay, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods,