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AN INDIVIDUAL TRAVEL‐COST METHOD OF EVALUATING FOREST RECREATION
Author(s) -
Willis K. G.,
Garrod G. D.
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
journal of agricultural economics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.157
H-Index - 61
eISSN - 1477-9552
pISSN - 0021-857X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1477-9552.1991.tb00330.x
Subject(s) - recreation , economic surplus , visitor pattern , investment (military) , value (mathematics) , tourism , opportunity cost , economics , rate of return , natural resource economics , business , geography , microeconomics , ecology , computer science , statistics , finance , mathematics , biology , archaeology , politics , political science , welfare , law , market economy , programming language
Consumer surplus for outdoor recreation has traditionally been estimated by a Clawson‐Knetsch travel‐cost method. This paper presents zonal consumer‐surplus estimates for visitors to a number of forests and compares these estimates to those derived from individual visitor observations. Both travel‐cost procedures are used to assess the magnitude of recreational benefits and are found to produce widely different consumer‐surplus estimates. This raises questions about research methodology and has implications for the value of recreation associated with forestry and its contribution to the rate of return on forest investment.