IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ags/hebarc/18568.html

The Effect of Future Availability of Information on Willingness to Pay

Author

Listed:
  • Corrigan, Jay R.

Abstract

This paper analyzes the effect that potential future availability of information has on willingness to pay in a contingent market characterized by uncertainty and irreversibility. In particular, I test whether the effect is consistent with the predictions of Zhao and Kling's (forthcoming) theory of commitment cost. The analysis is performed using the results of a contingent valuation study designed to estimate the degree to which local residents value improved water quality in Clear Lake, a spring-fed, glacial lake located in north-central Iowa. The results show that willingness to pay is highly sensitive to the potential for future learning. Offering survey respondents the opportunity to delay their purchasing decision until more information is available led to a significant decrease in willingness to pay. This suggests that contingent valuation practitioners must take care to accurately represent the potential for future learning or else risk biased valuation estimates.

Suggested Citation

  • Corrigan, Jay R., 2001. "The Effect of Future Availability of Information on Willingness to Pay," Hebrew University of Jerusalem Archive 18568, Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:hebarc:18568
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.18568
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/18568/files/wp010290.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.22004/ag.econ.18568?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. John C. Bergstrom & John R. Stoll & Alan Randall, 1990. "The Impact of Information on Environmental Commodity Valuation Decisions," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 72(3), pages 614-621.
    2. Douglas A. Greenley & Richard G. Walsh & Robert A. Young, 1981. "Option Value: Empirical Evidence from a Case Study of Recreation and Water Quality," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 96(4), pages 657-673.
    3. Claude Henry, 1974. "Option Values in the Economics of Irreplaceable Assets," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 41(5), pages 89-104.
    4. Laura O. Taylor & Ronald G. Cummings, 1999. "Unbiased Value Estimates for Environmental Goods: A Cheap Talk Design for the Contingent Valuation Method," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 89(3), pages 649-665, June.
    5. Jon M. Conrad, 1980. "Quasi-Option Value and the Expected Value of Information," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 94(4), pages 813-820.
    6. Blomquist, Glenn C. & Whitehead, John C., 1998. "Resource quality information and validity of willingness to pay in contingent valuation," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 20(2), pages 179-196, June.
    7. A. Myrick Freeman III, 1984. "The Sign and Size of Option Value," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 60(1), pages 1-13.
    8. Karl C. Samples & John A. Dixon & KMarcia M. Gowen, 1986. "Information Disclosure and Endangered Species Valuation," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 62(3), pages 306-312.
    9. Cameron, Trudy Ann, 1988. "A new paradigm for valuing non-market goods using referendum data: Maximum likelihood estimation by censored logistic regression," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 15(3), pages 355-379, September.
    10. David S. Brookshire & Larry S. Eubanks & Alan Randall, 1983. "Estimating Option Prices and Existence Values for Wildlife Resources," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 59(1), pages 1-15.
    11. Burton A. Weisbrod, 1964. "Collective-Consumption Services of Individual-Consumption Goods," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 78(3), pages 471-477.
    12. Robert Cameron Mitchell & Richard T. Carson, 1985. "Option Value: Empirical Evidence from a Case Study of Recreation and Water Quality: Comment," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 100(1), pages 291-294.
    13. Hoehn, John P. & Randall, Alan, 1987. "A satisfactory benefit cost indicator from contingent valuation," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 14(3), pages 226-247, September.
    14. Hanemann, W. Michael, 1989. "Information and the concept of option value," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 16(1), pages 23-37, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. repec:ken:wpaper:0603 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. 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.
    3. Jay Corrigan & Catherine L. Kling & Jinhua Zhao, 2003. "Dynamic Formation of Willingness to Pay: An Empirical Specification and Test , The," Center for Agricultural and Rural Development (CARD) Publications 03-wp327, Center for Agricultural and Rural Development (CARD) at Iowa State University.
    4. 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.
    5. Ronald Cummings & Glenn Harrison, 1995. "The measurement and decomposition of nonuse values: A critical review," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 5(3), pages 225-247, April.
    6. Kai-Lih Chen, 1999. "Measuring values of wetlands in Taiwan," Environmental Economics and Policy Studies, Springer;Society for Environmental Economics and Policy Studies - SEEPS, vol. 2(1), pages 65-89, March.
    7. Young, Ralph, 1991. "The Economic Significance of Environmental Resources: A Review of the Evidence," Review of Marketing and Agricultural Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 59(03), pages 1-26, December.
    8. Robert W. Kling & Charles F. Revier & Karin Sable, 2004. "Estimating the Public Good Value of Preserving a Local Historic Landmark: The Role of Non-substitutability and Citizen Information," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 41(10), pages 2025-2041, September.
    9. Richard T. Carson, 2011. "Contingent Valuation," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 2489.
    10. Kai-Lih Chen, 1999. "Measuring values of wetlands in Taiwan," Environmental Economics and Policy Studies, Springer;Society for Environmental Economics and Policy Studies - SEEPS, vol. 2(1), pages 65-89, March.
    11. Blomquist, Glenn C. & Whitehead, John C., 1998. "Resource quality information and validity of willingness to pay in contingent valuation," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 20(2), pages 179-196, June.
    12. Boyle, Kevin J. & Bishop, Richard C., 1985. "The Total Value Of Wildlife: A Case Study Involving Endangered Species," 1985 Annual Meeting, August 4-7, Ames, Iowa 278711, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    13. Jinhua Zhao & Catherine L. Kling, 2004. "Willingness to Pay, Compensating Variation, and the Cost of Commitment," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 42(3), pages 503-517, July.
    14. Asafu-Adjaye, John & Adamowicz, Wiktor & Phillips, William, 1989. "Nonmarket Valuation under Uncertainty," Staff Paper Series 232438, University of Alberta, Department of Resource Economics and Environmental Sociology.
    15. Alhassan, Mustapha & Gustafson, Christopher R. & Schoengold, Karina, "undated". "Effects of Information Framing on Smallholder Irrigation Farmers’ Willingness to Pay for Groundwater Protection: The Case of Vea Irrigation Scheme in Ghana," 2017 Annual Meeting, July 30-August 1, Chicago, Illinois 258432, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    16. Attanasi, Giuseppe Marco & Montesano, Aldo, 2010. "Testing Value vs Waiting Value in Environmental Decisions under Uncertainty," TSE Working Papers 10-154, Toulouse School of Economics (TSE).
    17. Katuwal, Hari & Venn, Tyron J. & Paveglio, Travis & Prato, Tony, 2015. "Effects of Information Framing and Information Seeking Behavior on Willingness-to-pay for a Wildfire Management Program," 2015 AAEA & WAEA Joint Annual Meeting, July 26-28, San Francisco, California 205645, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    18. Coggins, Jay S. & Ramezani, Cyrus A., 1998. "An Arbitrage-Free Approach to Quasi-Option Value," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 35(2), pages 103-125, March.
    19. Clem Tisdell & Clevo Wilson, 2006. "Information, Wildlife Valuation, Conservation: Experiments And Policy," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 24(1), pages 144-159, January.
    20. repec:isu:genstf:201201010800003414 is not listed on IDEAS
    21. Veisten, Knut, 2007. "Contingent valuation controversies: Philosophic debates about economic theory," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 36(2), pages 204-232, April.
    22. Sun, Henglun & Bergstrom, John C. & Dorfman, Jeffrey H., 1992. "Estimating the Benefits of Groundwater Contamination Control," Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 24(2), pages 63-71, December.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ags:hebarc:18568. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: AgEcon Search (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.