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Despairing Over Disparities: Explaining the Difference Between Willingness to Pay and Willingness to Accept

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  • Carol Mansfield

Abstract

This paper examines the three major explanations for the disparity between willingness-to-pay (WTP) and willingness-to-accept (WTA) observed in contingent value surveys and laboratory experiments: a belief that the results must be biased in some fashion, Hanemann's (1991) substitutes hypothesis, and the loss aversion model proposed by Tversky and Kahneman (1991). Starting from the assumption that individuals make utility maximizing choices, we develop structural equations that yield parametric tests of the hypotheses within a single, non-experimental framework. The approach is flexible enough to incorporate a variety of functional form and distributional assumptions and can be applied to either data from either open-ended bids or dichotomous choice questions. The usefulness of the approach is demonstrated using data from a survey that asked both WTP and WTA questions. The results provide weak support for loss aversion. Copyright Kluwer Academic Publishers 1999

Suggested Citation

  • Carol Mansfield, 1999. "Despairing Over Disparities: Explaining the Difference Between Willingness to Pay and Willingness to Accept," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 13(2), pages 219-234, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:enreec:v:13:y:1999:i:2:p:219-234
    DOI: 10.1023/A:1008246228773
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    1. Knetsch, Jack L, 1989. "The Endowment Effect and Evidence of Nonreversible Indifference Curves," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 79(5), pages 1277-1284, December.
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    Cited by:

    1. Jay Corrigan & Catherine Kling & Jinhua Zhao, 2008. "Willingness to Pay and the Cost of Commitment: An Empirical Specification and Test," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 40(2), pages 285-298, June.
    2. repec:ken:wpaper:0603 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Gautam, Tej K. & Paudel, Krishna P. & Guidry, Kurt M., 2017. "Willingness To Pay For Irrigation Water In Louisiana," 2017 Annual Meeting, February 4-7, 2017, Mobile, Alabama 252821, Southern Agricultural Economics Association.
    4. Corrigan, Jay R. & Kling, Catherine L. & Zhao, Jinhua, 2003. "Dynamic Willingness to Pay: An Empirical Specification and Test," Staff General Research Papers Archive 10220, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    5. Jay Corrigan, 2001. "Effect of Future Availability of Information on Willingness to Pay, The," Center for Agricultural and Rural Development (CARD) Publications 01-wp290, Center for Agricultural and Rural Development (CARD) at Iowa State University.

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