Contingent Valuation
From Dubious to Hopeless
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4979705 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Jerry A Hausman (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, corresponding author), Jerry Hausman (John and Jennie S. MacDonald Professor of Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts.) |
| Year | 2012 |
| Volume | 26 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 43-56 |
| Publication date | 2012-11-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The Journal of Economic Perspectives (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0895-3309 • E-ISSN: 1944-7965 |
| Publisher | American Economic Association (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1257/jep.26.4.43 |
| OpenAlex | W2110116721 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 124 |
| References cited | 12 |
Approximately 20 years ago, Peter Diamond and I wrote an article for this journal analyzing contingent valuation methods. At that time Peter's view was that contingent valuation was hopeless, while I was dubious but somewhat more optimistic. But 20 years later, after millions of dollars of largely government-funded research, I have concluded that Peter's earlier position was correct and that contingent valuation is hopeless. In this paper, I selectively review the contingent valuation literature, focusing on empirical results. I find that three long-standing problems continue to exist: 1) hypothetical response bias that leads contingent valuation to overstatements of value; 2) large differences between willingness to pay and willingness to accept; and 3) the embedding problem which encompasses scope problems. The problems of embedding and scope are likely to be the most intractable. Indeed, I believe that respondents to contingent valuation surveys are often not responding out of stable or well-defined preferences, but are essentially inventing their answers on the fly, in a way which makes the resulting data useless for serious analysis. Finally, I offer a case study of a prominent contingent valuation study done by recognized experts in this approach, a study that should be only minimally affected by these concerns but in which the answers of respondents to the survey are implausible and inconsistent
Actuarial science · Contingent valuation · Economics · Microeconomics · Positive economics · Willingness to pay · Decision-Making and Behavioral Economics · Economic and Environmental Valuation · Housing Market and Economics · Finance
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The value of preserving endangered folk games using the contingent valuation method
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Behavioral Law and Economics Is Not Just a Refinement of Law and Economics
Relational values and citizens’ assemblies in the context of adaptation to sea-level rise
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Citizen Advisory Committees in the Contingent Valuation Method Process
Victim Compensation Policy and White‐Collar Crime
The Role of the Cost‐of‐Crime Literature in Bridging the Gap Between Social Science Research and Policy Making
Quantifying nonuse and indirect economic benefits of impingement & entrainment reductions at U.S. power plants
Willingness to pay for forest conservation in Ecuador
Valuation of First Nations peoples' social, cultural, and land use activities using life satisfaction approach
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Forestland owners' willingness to plant pine on non-forested land for woody bioenergy in Virginia
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Scope Effects in Contingent Valuation
Talking money
Plausible responsiveness to scope in contingent valuation
Assessing individual and social values of cultural services of a protected area through online deliberation
The Seller's Sense
The cross-price effect on willingness-to-pay estimates in open-ended contingent valuation
Does a food safety label matter? Consumer heterogeneity and fresh produce risk perceptions under the Food Safety Modernization Act
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Air pollution and willingness to pay for health risk reductions in Egypt
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Willingness to pay for electricity access in extreme poverty
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Households’ willingness to pay for sustainable sanitation and wastewater management in Jaffna municipal area, Sri Lanka
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Factors driving inter-municipal cooperation in the African Metropolis
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Mask Mandate Costs
Examining the perceptions and effects of survey consequentiality across population subgroups
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Estimating the social value of higher education
Pitfalls of monetizing relational values in the context of climate change adaptation
Social adaptation can reduce the strength of social–ecological feedbacks from ecosystem degradation
Determinants of the marginal willingness to pay for improved domestic water and irrigation in partially electrified Rwandan villages
Stated Preferences and Decision-Making
Experimental Evidence on the Economics of Rural Electrification
The impact of tourists’ ESG awareness on their willingness to pay
Social desirability and the WTP–WTA disparity in common goods
Habitat and Resource Equivalency Analysis
Valuing the Environmental Costs of Local Development
Beyond Current Guidelines
Deliberately vague or vaguely deliberative
Democratic valuation (DV)
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Between economic loss and social identity
Environmental damage evaluation in a willingness-to-accept scenario
| Unique citing works | 124 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 9,54 |
| Citation span | 2013 - 2026 (14) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | Yes |
| Citation types | Neutral: 115 |