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An increasing number of countries and institutions are investing inlarge-scale research infrastructures (RIs) and in basic research. Scientificdiscoveries, which are expected thanks to RIs, may have a non-use value, inanalogy with environmental and cultural public goods. This paper provides, forthe first time, an empirical estimation of the willingness to pay (WTP) fordiscoveries in basic research by the general public. We focus on the LargeHadron Collider (LHC), the largest particle accelerator worldwide, where in2012 the Higgs boson was discovered. Nobody knows the practical value of suchdiscovery, beyond knowledge per se. The findings of our study are based on adichotomous choice contingent valuation (CV) survey carried out in line withthe NOAA guidelines. The survey involved 1,022 undergraduate students enrolledin more than 30 different degrees (including the humanities) at fiveuniversities located in four countries (Italy, France, Spain, UK). We ask twomain research questions: Which are the determinants of the WTP for the LHCdiscoveries? What is the average contribution that the respondents would bewilling to pay? Our results confirm that income, interest and attitudes towardsbasic research are positively associated with the WTP, while other potentialexplanatory variables play a limited role. The estimated mean of WTP for basicresearch in particle physics is EUR 7.7 per person una-tantum. Although this isa small amount compared to other CV studies for environmental and culturalgoods, it points to positive social attitudes for basic science as a publicgood.

Willingness to pay for basic research: a contingent valuation experiment on the large hadron collider