Referendum contingent valuation, anchoring, and willingness to pay for public goods

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Referendum contingent valuation, anchoring, and willingness to pay for public goods

Author Info

Green, Donald
Jacowitz, Karen E.
Kahneman, Daniel
McFadden, Daniel

Additional information is available for the following registered author(s):

Daniel L. McFadden

Abstract

This study reports on experiments that examine anchoring in single referendum questions in contingent valuation surveys on willingness to pay for public goods, and on objective estimation. Strong anchoring effects are found that lead to systematically higher estimated mean responses from Yes/No referendum responses than from open-ended responses. This response pattern is similar for contingent valuation questions and for objective estimation questions. The paper concludes that psychometric anchoring effects, rather than incentive effects, are the likely cause of results commonly found in contingent valuation studies, and that the currently popular single referendum elicitation format is highly vulnerable to anchoring.

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Publisher Info
Article provided by Elsevier in its journal Resource and Energy Economics.

Volume (Year): 20 (1998)
Issue (Month): 2 (June)
Pages: 85-116
Download reference. The following formats are available: HTML (with abstract), plain text (with abstract), BibTeX, RIS (EndNote, RefMan, ProCite), ReDIF
Handle: RePEc:eee:resene:v:20:y:1998:i:2:p:85-116

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Paper
- Donald Green & Karen Jacowitz & Daniel Kahneman & Daniel McFadden, 1995. "Referendum Contingent Valuation, Anchoring, and Willingness to Pay for Public Goods," Working Papers _010, University of California at Berkeley, Econometrics Laboratory Software Archive. [Downloadable!]

Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

Sandra Lechner & Anne Rozan & François Laisney, 2003. "A model of the anchoring effect in dichotomous choice valuation with follow-up," Working Papers of BETA 2003-07, Bureau d'Economie Théorique et Appliquée, ULP, Strasbourg. [Downloadable!]
M. Genius & Elisabetta Strazzera, 2005. "Modeling Elicitation effects in contingent valuation studies: a Monte Carlo Analysis of the bivariate approach," Working Paper CRENoS 200502, Centre for North South Economic Research, University of Cagliari and Sassari, Sardinia. [Downloadable!]
Soest, A.H.O. van & Hurd, M., 2004. "Models for anchoring and acquiescence bias in consumption data," Discussion Paper 26, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research. [Downloadable!]
Other versions:
- Arthur van Soest & Michael Hurd, 2004. "Models for Anchoring and Acquiescence Bias in Consumption Data," Working Papers 146, RAND Corporation Publications Department. [Downloadable!]
- Arthur van Soest & Michael Hurd, 2004. "Models for Anchoring and Acquiescence Bias in Consumption Data," NBER Working Papers 10461, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
Andersson, Henrik & Svensson, Mikael, 2007. "Cognitive Ability and Scale Bias in the Contingent Valuation Method," Working Papers 2007:1, Swedish National Road & Transport Research Institute (VTI). [Downloadable!]
Other versions:
- Andersson, Henrik & Svensson, Mikael, 2006. "Cognitive Ability and Scale Bias in the Contingent Valuation Method," Working Papers 2006:2, Swedish National Road & Transport Research Institute (VTI).
- Henrik Andersson & Mikael Svensson, 2008. "Cognitive ability and scale bias in the contingent valuation method," Environmental & Resource Economics, European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 39(4), pages 481-495, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
Carlsson, Fredrik & Frykblom, Peter & Lagerkvist, Carl-Johan, 2004. "Preferences With and Without Prices - does the price attribute affect behavior in stated preference surveys?," Working Papers in Economics 150, Göteborg University, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
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- Fredrik Carlsson & Peter Frykblom & Carl Lagerkvist, 2007. "Preferences with and without prices - does the price attribute affect behavior in stated preference surveys?," Environmental & Resource Economics, European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 38(2), pages 155-164, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
Daniel McFadden, 2001. "Economic Choices," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(3), pages 351-378, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
Other versions:
- McFadden, Daniel L., 2000. "Economic Choices," Nobel Prize in Economics documents 2000-6, Nobel Prize Committee. [Downloadable!]
Marit E Kragt & Jeff Bennett, . "What’s appropriate? Investigating the Effects of Attribute Level Framing and Changing Cost Levels in Choice Experiments," Environmental Economics Research Hub Research Reports 0917, Environmental Economics Research Hub, Crawford School, Australian National University. [Downloadable!]
John C. Whitehead & Subhrendu K. Pattanayak & George L. Van Houtven & Brett R. Gelso, . "Combining Revealed and Stated Preference Data to Estimate the Nonmarket Value of Ecological Services: An Assessment of the State of the Science," Working Papers 05-19, Department of Economics, Appalachian State University. [Downloadable!]
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- John C. Whitehead & Subhrendu K. Pattanayak & George L. Van Houtven & Brett R. Gelso, 2008. "Combining Revealed And Stated Preference Data To Estimate The Nonmarket Value Of Ecological Services: An Assessment Of The State Of The Science," Journal of Economic Surveys, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 22(5), pages 872-908, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
Borghans,Lex & Golsteyn,Bart H.H., 2005. "Time Discounting and the Body Mass Index," Research Memoranda 006, Maastricht : ROA, Research Centre for Education and the Labour Market. [Downloadable!]
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Riccardo Scarpa & Susanne Menzel, 2005. "Protection Motivation Theory and Contingent Valuation: Perceived Realism, Threat and WTP Estimates for Biodiversity Protection," Working Papers 2005.26, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei. [Downloadable!]
Arthur van Soest & Michael Hurd, 2004. "A Test for Anchoring and Yea-Saying in Experimental Consumption Data," NBER Working Papers 10462, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
Other versions:
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- van Soest, Arthur & Hurd, Michael, 2008. "A Test for Anchoring and Yea-Saying in Experimental Consumption Data," Journal of the American Statistical Association, American Statistical Association, vol. 103, pages 126-136, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
Liam Delaney & Francis O’Toole, 2004. "Irish Public Service Broadcasting - A Contingent Valuation Analysis," The Economic and Social Review, Economic and Social Studies, vol. 35(3), pages 321-350. [Downloadable!]
P. Frykblom & Jason Shogren, 2000. "An Experimental Testing of Anchoring Effects in Discrete Choice Questions," Environmental & Resource Economics, European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 16(3), pages 329-341, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
Magnac, Thierry & Maurin, Eric, 2004. "Partial Identification in Monotone Binary Models: Discrete Regressors and Interval Data," IDEI Working Papers 280, Institut d'Économie Industrielle (IDEI), Toulouse, revised Jan 2005. [Downloadable!]
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- Thierry Magnac & Eric Maurin, 2008. "Partial Identification in Monotone Binary Models: Discrete Regressors and Interval Data," Review of Economic Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 75(3), pages 835-864, 07. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
Marit Kragt & Jeff Bennett, 2008. "Designing Choice Experiments to Test for Anchoring and Framing Effects," Environmental Economics Research Hub Research Reports 0810, Environmental Economics Research Hub, Crawford School, Australian National University. [Downloadable!]
Seidl , Christian & Traub, Stefan & Morone, Andrea, 2003. "Relative Deprivation, Personal Income Satisfaction, and Average Well-Being under Different Income Distributions," Economics Working Papers 2003,05, Christian-Albrechts-University of Kiel, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
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Vazques Alvarez, R. & Melenberg, B. & Soest, A. van, 2001. "Nonparametric bounds in the presence of item nonresponse, unfolding brackets, and anchoring," Discussion Paper 67, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research. [Downloadable!]
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Simonson, Itamar & Drolet, Aimee L., 2003. "Anchoring Effects on Consumers' Willingness-to-Pay and Willingness-to-Accept," Research Papers 1787, Stanford University, Graduate School of Business. [Downloadable!]

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