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A contingent valuation experiment about future particle accelerators at CERN

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  • Massimo Florio
  • Francesco Giffoni

Abstract

Investment in basic science is mainly supported by government funding, but little is known about citizens’ willingness to pay for large-scale projects. A survey to a representative sample of French taxpayers, designed as a contingent valuation experiment about a future particle accelerator for CERN, reveals that citizens’ willingness to pay is correlated with education, income, age, and–crucially–previous awareness, attitudes and interest in science. A (slim) majority of the participants would accept paying more in taxes for CERN. The estimated willingness to pay is higher than the current implicit per capita tax burden of French citizens. The experimental setting is novel and replicable for empirically assessing social attitudes towards science for other research infrastructures and countries.

Suggested Citation

  • Massimo Florio & Francesco Giffoni, 2020. "A contingent valuation experiment about future particle accelerators at CERN," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(3), pages 1-24, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0229885
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0229885
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    2. Jang-Hwan Jo & Chang-Bae Lee & Hye-Jung Cho & Jukwan Lee, 2021. "Estimation of Citizens’ Willingness to Pay for the Implementation of Payment for Local Forest Ecosystem Services: The Case of Taxes and Donations," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-14, May.
    3. Giffoni, Francesco & Florio, Massimo, 2023. "Public support of science: A contingent valuation study of citizens' attitudes about CERN with and without information about implicit taxes," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(1).
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    6. Morretta, Valentina & Vurchio, Davide & Carrazza, Stefano, 2022. "The socio-economic value of scientific publications: The case of Earth Observation satellites," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 180(C).

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