IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/fem/femwpa/2007.36.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Valuing the Cultural Monuments of Armenia: Bayesian Updating of Prior Beliefs in Contingent Valuation

Author

Listed:
  • Anna Alberini

    (AREC, University of Maryland)

  • Alberto Longo

    (Queen's University Belfast)

Abstract

We use contingent valuation to place a value on the conservation of built cultural heritage sites in Armenia. When we present the hypothetical scenario in the questionnaire we spell out what would happen to the monuments in the absence of the government conservation program. We posit that respondents combine such information with their own prior beliefs, which the questionnaire also elicits, and that the WTP for the good or program is likely to be affected by these updated beliefs. We propose a Bayesian updating model of prior beliefs, and empirically implement it using the data from our survey. We find that uncertainty about what would happen to the monument in the absence of the program results in lower WTP amounts.

Suggested Citation

  • Anna Alberini & Alberto Longo, 2007. "Valuing the Cultural Monuments of Armenia: Bayesian Updating of Prior Beliefs in Contingent Valuation," Working Papers 2007.36, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.
    • Handle: RePEc:fem:femwpa:2007.36
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://feem-media.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/NDL2007-036.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Richard Epstein, 2003. "The Regrettable Necessity of Contingent Valuation," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 27(3), pages 259-274, November.
    2. IIde Rizzo & Ruth Towse (ed.), 2002. "The Economics of Heritage," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 2770.
    3. Walter Santagata & Giovanni Signorello, 2000. "Contingent Valuation of a Cultural Public Good and Policy Design: The Case of ``Napoli Musei Aperti''," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 24(3), pages 181-204, August.
    4. Soma Bhattacharya & Anna Alberini & Maureen Cropper, 2007. "The value of mortality risk reductions in Delhi, India," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 34(1), pages 21-47, February.
    5. Douglas Noonan, 2003. "Contingent Valuation and Cultural Resources: A Meta-Analytic Review of the Literature," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 27(3), pages 159-176, November.
    6. David Throsby, 2003. "Determining the Value of Cultural Goods: How Much (or How Little) Does Contingent Valuation Tell Us?," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 27(3), pages 275-285, November.
    7. Ståle Navrud & Richard C. Ready (ed.), 2002. "Valuing Cultural Heritage," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 1759.
    8. Susana Mourato & Andreas Kontoleon & Alexi Danchev, 2002. "Preserving Cultural Heritage in Transition Economies: A Contingent Valuation Study of Bulgarian Monasteries," Chapters, in: Ståle Navrud & Richard C. Ready (ed.), Valuing Cultural Heritage, chapter 6, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    9. Viscusi, W. Kip, 1985. "A Bayesian perspective on biases in risk perception," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 17(1-2), pages 59-62.
    10. Jennifer Tkac, 1998. "The Effects of Information on Willingness-to-Pay Values of Endangered Species," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 80(5), pages 1214-1220.
    11. Ajzen, Icek & Brown, Thomas C. & Rosenthal, Lori H., 1996. "Information Bias in Contingent Valuation: Effects of Personal Relevance, Quality of Information, and Motivational Orientation," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 30(1), pages 43-57, January.
    12. Viscusi, W Kip & O'Connor, Charles J, 1984. "Adaptive Responses to Chemical Labeling: Are Workers Bayesian Decision Makers?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 74(5), pages 942-956, December.
    13. Viscusi, W Kip, 1989. "Prospective Reference Theory: Toward an Explanation of the Paradoxes," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 2(3), pages 235-263, September.
    14. Anna Alberini & Alberto Longo, 2006. "Combining the travel cost and contingent behavior methods to value cultural heritage sites: Evidence from Armenia," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 30(4), pages 287-304, December.
    15. Ian J. Bateman & Richard T. Carson & Brett Day & Michael Hanemann & Nick Hanley & Tannis Hett & Michael Jones-Lee & Graham Loomes, 2002. "Economic Valuation with Stated Preference Techniques," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 2639.
    16. J. Snowball, 2005. "Art for the Masses? Justification for the Public Support of the Arts in Developing Countries – Two Arts Festivals in South Africa," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 29(2), pages 107-125, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Andrea Leiter & Gerald Pruckner, 2009. "Proportionality of Willingness to Pay to Small Changes in Risk: The Impact of Attitudinal Factors in Scope Tests," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 42(2), pages 169-186, February.

    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. Alberini, Anna & Longo, Alberto, 2007. "Valuing the Cultural Monuments of Armenia: Bayesian Updating of Prior Beliefs in Contingent Valuation," Sustainability Indicators and Environmental Valuation Working Papers 9337, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM).
    2. Anna Alberini & Alberto Longo, 2009. "Valuing the Cultural Monuments of Armenia: Bayesian Updating of Prior Beliefs in Contingent Valuation," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 41(2), pages 441-460, February.
    3. Tuan, Hun Tran & Navrud,Stale, 2012. "Capturing the Benefits of Preserving World Heritage Cultural Heritage Sites," EBLA Working Papers 201202, University of Turin.
    4. Wiśniewska Aleksandra, 2019. "Quality attributes in the non-market stated-preference based valuation of cultural goods," Central European Economic Journal, Sciendo, vol. 6(53), pages 132-150, January.
    5. Boter, Jaap & Rouwendal, Jan & Wedel, Michel, 2004. "Employing Travel Costs to Compare the Use Value of Competing Cultural Organizations," Serie Research Memoranda 0011, VU University Amsterdam, Faculty of Economics, Business Administration and Econometrics.
    6. Salvador Saz-Salazar & Ana Navarrete-Tudela & José Ramón Alcalá-Mellado & Daniel Carlos Saz-Salazar, 2019. "On the Use of Life Satisfaction Data for Valuing Cultural Goods: A First Attempt and a Comparison with the Contingent Valuation Method," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 20(1), pages 119-140, January.
    7. Wright, William C.C. & Eppink, Florian V., 2016. "Drivers of heritage value: A meta-analysis of monetary valuation studies of cultural heritage," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 277-284.
    8. Ilde Rizzo & Anna Mignosa (ed.), 2013. "Handbook on the Economics of Cultural Heritage," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 14326.
    9. Andy Choi & Franco Papandrea & Jeff Bennett, 2007. "Assessing cultural values: developing an attitudinal scale," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 31(4), pages 311-335, December.
    10. Anne-Kathrin LAST, 2008. "The Monetary Value of Cultural Goods: A Contingent Valuation Study of the Municipal Supply of Cultural Goods in Lueneburg, Germany," EcoMod2008 23800074, EcoMod.
    11. Tiziana Cuccia, 2011. "Contingent Valuation," Chapters, in: Ruth Towse (ed.), A Handbook of Cultural Economics, Second Edition, chapter 13, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    12. Armbrecht, John, 2014. "Use value of cultural experiences: A comparison of contingent valuation and travel cost," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 141-148.
    13. Bruno S. Frey, "undated". "What Values Should Count in the Arts? The Tension between Economic Effects and Cultural Value," IEW - Working Papers 253, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - University of Zurich.
    14. Carlos Jurado-Rivas & Marcelino Sánchez-Rivero, 2019. "Willingness to Pay for More Sustainable Tourism Destinations in World Heritage Cities: The Case of Caceres, Spain," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(21), pages 1-21, October.
    15. Anne-Kathrin Last, 2007. "The Monetary Value of Cultural Goods: A Contingent Valuation Study of the Municipal Supply of Cultural Goods in Lueneburg, Germany," Working Paper Series in Economics 63, University of Lüneburg, Institute of Economics.
    16. Jaap Boter & Jan Rouwendal & Michel Wedel, 2005. "Employing Travel Time to Compare the Value of Competing Cultural Organizations," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 29(1), pages 19-33, February.
    17. Botzen, W.J.W. & van den Bergh, J.C.J.M., 2012. "Risk attitudes to low-probability climate change risks: WTP for flood insurance," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 82(1), pages 151-166.
    18. Patrizia Riganti, 2022. "Embedding Effects in Contingent Valuation Applications to Cultural Capital: Does the Nature of the Goods Matter?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-17, May.
    19. Aleksandra Wiśniewska, 2019. "‘Quality food’ for cultural policies. Quality attributes in the non-market stated-preference based valuation of cultural goods," Working Papers 2019-03, Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw.
    20. Andy Choi, 2009. "Willingness to pay: how stable are the estimates?," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 33(4), pages 301-310, November.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Valuation of Cultural Heritage Sites; Non-Market Valuation; Contingent Valuation; Bayesian Updating; Prior Beliefs;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Z10 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - General

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:fem:femwpa:2007.36. 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: Alberto Prina Cerai (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/feemmit.html .

    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.