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Behavioral Drivers or Economic Incentives? Toward a Better Understanding of Elicitation Effects in Stated Preference Studies

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  • Christian A. Vossler
  • Ewa Zawojska

Abstract

Survey-based welfare measures for public goods are often very sensitive to value elicitation methods, for example, whether the elicitation is framed as an up-or-down vote or an open-ended willingness-to-pay (WTP) question. Leading hypotheses for elicitation effects are tied to either behavioral factors (e.g., psychological cues) or differences in perceived economic incentives. Past research that emphasizes behavioral drivers does not precisely control economic incentives, potentially confounding inferences. We conduct an experiment that controls economic incentives through incentive-compatible elicitation methods and compare single binary choice, double-bounded binary choice, payment card, and open-ended response formats. Our experiment retains important field survey characteristics, including the valuation of an environmental public good with passive-use value. All formats elicit statistically indistinguishable WTP distributions, suggesting that behavioral factors may not be the primary drivers of elicitation effects. To the extent that our laboratory methods can be mirrored in the field, this offers a pathway for mitigating elicitation effects.

Suggested Citation

  • Christian A. Vossler & Ewa Zawojska, 2020. "Behavioral Drivers or Economic Incentives? Toward a Better Understanding of Elicitation Effects in Stated Preference Studies," Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, University of Chicago Press, vol. 7(2), pages 279-303.
  • Handle: RePEc:ucp:jaerec:doi:10.1086/706645
    DOI: 10.1086/706645
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Endre Kildal Iversen & Kristine Grimsrud & Yohei Mitani & Henrik Lindhjem, 2022. "Altruist Talk May (also) Be Cheap: Revealed Versus Stated Altruism as a Predictor in Stated Preference Studies," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 83(3), pages 681-708, November.
    2. Ewa Zawojska & Michał Krawczyk, 2022. "Incentivizing stated preference elicitation with choice-matching in the field," Working Papers 2022-04, Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw.
    3. Aleksandra Wiśniewska & Ewa Zawojska & Andrea Baldin & Joanna Rachubik, 2023. "Reliability of international benefit transfer in cultural economics: Non-market valuation of theater in Denmark and Poland," Working Papers 2023-19, Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw.
    4. Romain Espinosa & Nicolas Treich, 2023. "Eliciting Non-hypothetical Willingness-to-pay for Novel Products: An Application to Cultured Meat," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 85(3), pages 673-706, August.
    5. James Macaskill & Patrick Lloyd‐Smith, 2022. "Six decades of environmental resource valuation in Canada: A synthesis of the literature," Canadian Journal of Agricultural Economics/Revue canadienne d'agroeconomie, Canadian Agricultural Economics Society/Societe canadienne d'agroeconomie, vol. 70(1), pages 73-89, March.
    6. Andersson, Henrik & Ouvrard, Benjamin, 2023. "Priming and the value of a statistical life: A cross country comparison," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 104(C).
    7. Kolstoe, Sonja & Naald, Brian Vander & Cohan, Alison, 2022. "A tale of two samples: Understanding WTP differences in the age of social media," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 55(C).
    8. Mikołaj Czajkowski & Ewa Zawojska & Norman Meade & Ronaldo Seroa da Motta & Mike Welsh & Ramon Arigoni Ortiz, 2022. "On the inference about willingness to pay distribution using contingent valuation data," Working Papers 2022-08, Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw.
    9. Andersson, Henrik & Ouvrard, Benjamin, 2023. "Priming and the Value of a Statistical Life: A Cross Country Comparison," TSE Working Papers 23-1439, Toulouse School of Economics (TSE).
    10. Xie, Lusi & Adamowicz, Wiktor & Kecinski, Maik & Fooks, Jacob R., 2022. "Using economic experiments to assess the validity of stated preference contingent behavior responses," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 114(C).

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