statistical efficiency of double bounded dichotomous choice contingent valuation the statistical efficiency of conventional dichotomous choice contingent valuation surveys can be improved by asking each respondent a second dichotomous choice question which depends on the response to the first question if the first response is yes the second bid is some amount greater than the first bid while if the first response is no the second bid is some amount smaller this double bounded approach is shown to be asymptotically more efficient than the conventional singlebounded approach using data from a survey of californians regarding their willingness to pay for wetlands in the san joaquin valley we show that in a finite sample the gain in efficiency can be very substantial

semi nonparametric distribution free dichotomous choice contingent valuation abstract we apply a semi nonparametric distribution free estimator for binary discrete response data to the estimation of a dichotomous choice contingent valuation model using this estimator mean and median compensating and equivalent variation can be consistently estimated without making nontheoretically motivated assumptions on consumer preferences the approach is illustrated using a contingent valuation survey of willingness to pay for reduction of risk of premature death due to exposure to hazardous waste we find that a conventional parametric estimator and the proposed estimator give similar estimates of unconditional wtp but that conditional on explanatory variables the estimates are quite different

estimation using contingent valuation data from a dichotomous choice with follow up questionnaire reply abstract our original article proposed that the two yes no willingness to pay wtp responses produced by this survey format should be viewed as a pair of jointly distributed correlated discrete random variables the comparison model the conventional approach to estimation using these types of data contained a programming error correction alters the results from the comparison model but our original claim that estimation by conventional methods can produce misleading inferences if ours is the appropriate specification still stands this is especially true if negative wtp is precluded when e wtp is calculated

one and one half bound dichotomous choice contingent valuation to reduce the potential for response bias on the follow up bid in multiple bound discrete choice cvm questions while maintaining much of the efficiency gains of the multiple bound approach we introduce the one and one half bound oohb approach despite the fact that the oohb model uses less information than the double bound db approach efficiency gains in moving from single bound to oohb capture a large portion of the gain associated with moving from single bound to db in an analysis of survey data our oohb estimates demonstrated higher consistency with respect to the follow up data than the db estimates and were more efficient as well

optimal bid selection for dichotomous choice contingent valuation surveys abstract this paper develops a model for optimal survey design for the dichotomous choice contingent valuation method that finds the bid amounts as well as the sample sizes corresponding to each bid the model uses an iterative procedure to select the survey design that minimizes the mean square error of the welfare measure a set of monte carlo simulations shows that the model produces significantly lower mean squared errors for the welfare estimate than the next best model produces survey design under alternative assumptions regarding the statistical distribution of the welfare measure is also addressed the model produced significantly different survey designs depending on whether the distribution was assumed to be symmetric or asymmetric

the korean public s willingness to pay for expanding the use of solid refuse fuel abstract solid refuse fuel srf a solid fuel that is produced from non hazardous combustible waste can mitigate greenhouse gas emissions compared with fossil fuels the korean government plans to enhance the ratio of combustible waste converted into srf from 16 in 2014 to 100 in 2020 by increasing the number of facilities that make and use srf this paper attempts to investigate empirically the korean public s willingness to pay wtp for expanding the use of srf the wtp data were obtained from a one and one half bounded dichotomous choice contingent valuation survey of 1000 households because a considerable number of respondents 62 6 gave a zero wtp response we applied a spike model to treat the wtp data with zero observations the spike model fitted the data well considering that all the coefficient estimates are statistically significant at the 1 level the yearly mean wtp was computed as krw 2479 usd 2 17 per household for the next 10 years which is also statistically meaningful at the 1 level expanding the value to the national population gives us krw 46 4 billion usd 40 5 million per year the present value of the total public wtp amounts to krw 369 0 billion usd 322 3 million using a social discount rate of 5 5 we can conclude that korean households are ready to shoulder some of the financial burden to expand the use of srf

how much are people willing to pay for silence a contingent valuation study despite its major importance in the urban environment the problem of noise has received little attention from environmental economists in this paper the economic value of a noise reduction programme is evaluated the chosen technique is contingent valuation using the recently proposed one and one half bound question format this new question format reduces the potential for response bias in multiple bound formats such as the double bound model while maintaining much of its efficiency through the estimations it is found that urban residents generally value noise negatively that is households are willing to pay for a noise reduction in particular it is found that households are willing to pay approximately four euros per decibel per year a further finding is that interviewees show scope sensitivity that is households display a different willingness to pay for different degrees of noise reduction most are willing to pay more for larger decreases in the level of disturbance from noise

flexible functional form estimation of willingness to pay using dichotomous choice data abstract this paper introduces fully flexible semi nonparametric methods for calculating willingness to pay wtp bounded between zero and the respondent s income for dichotomous choice contingent valuation a method to estimate median wtp using fully flexible functional forms is also presented finally the numerical illustration demonstrates the importance of considering jensen s inequality in calculating wtp with nonlinear models

difficulties in valuing street light improvement trust surprise and bound effects previous empirical research has demonstrated an internal inconsistency that may occur in response strategies between the first and second valuations made to closed ended contingent valuation questions one possible explanation for this bound effect is the surprise of being asked the second valuation question which may be enhanced where there is a lack of trust this paper considers the use of closed ended contingent valuation to estimate non market benefits for an improved street lighting scheme where there is a lack of trust in the agency responsible for provision the results provide confirmation that surprise is an important determinant of bound effects however efforts to reduce such bias using a prior statement of the bid range were found to be ineffective in increasing trust and reducing surprise given the importance of this area of research directions for future research are considered

the public s value for developing ocean energy technology in the republic of korea a contingent valuation study abstract ocean energy is a type of renewable energies and is considered as having a potential power of providing a substantial amount of energy although some forms of ocean energy are developed there is a need for further technological advances to better utilize ocean energy government should take observable actions to compensate for the costs of developing the technology this paper attempts to apply a contingent valuation cv method to obtaining at least a preliminary evaluation of the benefits that ensue from the development of the technology that commercializes ocean energy in the republic of korea overall the cv survey was successfully carried out to elicit the willingness to pay wtp for ocean energy the wtp was statistically significantly estimated from one and one half bounded spike model and the monthly mean wtp estimates was krw 1003 usd 0 9 per household the estimates of the annual benefits to relevant residents amounted to krw 206 4 billion usd 183 8 million

starting point bias in dichotomous choice valuation with follow up questioning abstract follow up questions are frequently used to improve the efficiency of dichotomous choice contingent valuation questionnaires however a number of authors e g 12 16 have noted a significant difference between the wtp distributions implied by initial and follow up question responses this paper investigates starting point bias as one explanation for the phenomenon we develop a model of starting point bias in the context of dichotomous choice questioning with follow up using a monte carlo simulation to illustrate the potential bias imparted to wtp estimates an application is provided based on data from a cv study in northcentral iowa

designing transactions without framing effects in iterative question formats abstract several studies document that iterative question formats used in contingent valuation studies produce anomalies in respondent behavior that appear to threaten the validity of welfare estimates by decomposing iterative question formats into their ascending and descending sequences we show that these anomalies occur only in ascending sequences we describe the conditions under which comparable patterns of behavior are likely to be found in other iterative question formats that begin with a discrete willingness to pay question we then develop a unified explanation of these anomalies using our model of framing based on prospect theory we provide the first head to head test of rival explanations of these behavioral patterns by developing refutable hypotheses for the strategic behavior yea saying anchoring and cost expectations models finally based on our own statistically robust model we show how these anomalies can be eliminated without loss of the statistical efficiency of most iterative question formats

the role of money in two alternative models when is the friedman rule optimal and why abstract in models of money with an infinitely lived representative agent ilra models the optimal monetary policy is almost always the friedman rule in overlapping generations og models by contrast the friedman rule may not be optimal in this paper we use this difference in monetary policy prescriptions to help us identify and study the key difference between these two models as models of money we study the welfare properties of monetary policy in a simple og model under two very different money demand specifications and two alternative assumptions about the generational timing of taxes for money retirement we conclude that the key difference between ilra and og monetary models is that in the latter the standard method for constructing a monetary regime causes transactions involving money to become intergenerational transfers under alternative government fiscal monetary regimes that offset these intergenerational transfers the friedman rule is always optimal

procedural invariance testing of the one and one half bound dichotomous choice elicitation method the contingent valuation method for estimating willingness to pay for public goods typically adopts a single referendum question format which is relatively statistically inefficient as an alternative cooper hanemann and signorello 2002 propose the one and one half bound oohb format allowing researchers to question respondents about both a lower and higher limit on project costs thereby securing substantial gains in statistical efficiency using an experimental design we find that responses to oohb valuation questions fail crucial tests of procedural invariance we test various competing models of observed response patterns including strategic misrepresentation of standard preferences and nonstandard models of preference formation

the secrets of industry are in the air industrial cooperation and the organizational dynamics of the innovative firm abstract the purpose of this exploratory work is to contribute to the elaboration of an analytical framework appropriate to the study of the organizational forms involved in technological cooperation the approach used herein is one of formulating those properties of the process of integration and association of resources that are not based on the economics of transaction costs these properties suggest that the integration and the association of resources are necessary for the creation of technology but are also a source of irreversibility after having defined the concept of organizational balance of innovative firms which corresponds to the possibility of reconciling specific resources with the reversibility of technological capacity i will attempt to show that the forms of cooperation as much intra as inter firm constitute the basic principle of organization and functioning of innovative firms i shall be able thus to give a positive reading of technological cooperation on the basis of an economic analysis of organization

learning design contingent valuation ldcv noaa guidelines preference learning and coherent arbitrariness we extend the contingent valuation cv method to test three differing conceptions of individuals preferences as either i a priori well formed or readily divined and revealed through a single dichotomous choice question as per the noaa cv guidelines k arrow r solow p r portney e e leamer r radner h schuman report of the noaa panel on contingent valuation fed reg 58 1993 4601 4614 ii learned or discovered through a process of repetition and experience j a list does market experience eliminate market anomalies q j econ 2003 41 72 c r plott rational individual behaviour in markets and social choice processes the discovered preference hypothesis in k arrow e colombatto m perleman c schmidt eds rational foundations of economic behaviour macmillan london st martin s new york 1996 pp 225 250 iii internally coherent but strongly influenced by some initial arbitrary anchor d ariely g loewenstein d prelec coherent arbitrariness stable demand curves without stable preferences q j econ 118 1 2003 73 105 findings reject both the first and last of these conceptions in favour of a model in which preferences converge towards standard expectations through a process of repetition and learning in doing so we show that such a learning design cv method overturns the stylised facts of bias and anchoring within the double bound dichotomous choice elicitation format

trust and willingness to pay for nanotechnology food les auteurs analysent le role de la confiance dans l evaluation d une nouvelle technologie alimentaire a savoir les nanotechnologies une revue de la litterature en sciences sociales et economiques revele que de nombreux concepts de confiance sont disponibles la litterature economique suggere que la confiance peut conduire a un moindre effort des personnes quand il s agit de leur propre protection il est possible de traduire ce concept de confiance dans le cadre de la disposition a payer pour des produits alimentaires ils montrent que la disposition a payer pour la nourriture utilisant des nanotechnologies augmente avec la confiance y compris quand de nouvelles informations a propos de cette technologie sont revelees les resultats sont confirmes par des donnees de sondages en ligne realises au canada et en allemagne et des donnees experimentales provenant d allemagne

some notes on trichotomous choice discrete valuation for some respondents the bid offered by the dichotomous choice format used in the discrete choice technique can in fact be the true optimum in this case the correct answer is neither yes or no but indifferent we shall show results from a trichotomous choice format and analyse whether it produces welfare measures with narrower confidence intervals than the dichotomous technique another well known problem in contingent valuation cv studies is that the volume of the good to be purchased from hypothetical markets is not in many cases defined in precise terms we show how the trichotomous choice technique can be used to test for possible vagueness in the volume of the project to be valued

bias in discrete response contingent valuation abstract the empirical literature on discrete response contingent valuation has found that seemingly innocuous changes in the statistical models estimated result in significantly different point estimates of willingness to pay this paper hypothesizes and tests several potential explanations for these results first it investigates and compares the biases inherent in single bounded and double bounded maximum likelihood estimation procedures and examines how they react to various bid designs and sample sizes then it examines the presence and identification of outliers in binary choice data and how these outliers influence estimation finally it presents an alternative approach to addressing the issue of outliers which explicitly acknowledges the possibility of upwardly biased response probabilities

repeated dichotomous choice formats for elicitation of willingness to pay simultaneous estimation and anchoring effect repeated dichotomous choice contingent valuation data are generated from responses to a succession of binary questions regarding alternative prices for an environmental good in this paper we propose a simultaneous equation model that allows for endogeneity and error correlation across the responses at each stage of the bidding process the model allows us to study the evolution of anchoring effects after the second dichotomous choice question estimation involves the bayesian techniques of gibbs sampling and data augmentation and the application focuses on the preservation value of a natural area the results for a data set involving up to four successive dichotomous choice questions show that restricted multiple bounded models are rejected by the data with the general model in addition willingness to pay tends to stabilize after the second stage in the elicitation process for the general unrestricted model when taking anchoring effects into consideration it is revealed that individuals responses in the latter stages are influenced by the sequence of bid prices offered in earlier questions nevertheless they do not have a significant effect on welfare estimates