Environmental Damage Assessment with Hypothetical Surveys: The Calibration Approach

Abstract

Can hypothetical survey methods be used to elicit valuations for environmental goods? Many critics of the use of these methods point to the lack of any real economic commitment by the subjects who are responding to the surveys. They question if hypothetical answers provide an accurate or informative guide to how those subjects would respond if required to back up their response with an actual monetary payment. The issue has ceased being academic, with the increasing use of such surveys in environmental damage assessment. Moreover, the sheer size of some of the damage assessments derived with hypothetical surveys has fueled even greater controversy between various interest groups.1 KeywordsPublic GoodContingent ValuationContingent Valuation MethodHypothetical BiasBias FunctionThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.