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Valuing Access to U . S . Public Lands: A Pricing Experiment to Inform Federal Policy*
Author(s) -
Aadland David,
Anatchkova Bistra,
Grandjean Burke D.,
Shogren Jason F.,
Simon Benjamin,
Taylor Patricia A.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
social science quarterly
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.482
H-Index - 90
eISSN - 1540-6237
pISSN - 0038-4941
DOI - 10.1111/j.1540-6237.2011.00826.x
Subject(s) - contingent valuation , recreation , valuation (finance) , willingness to pay , actuarial science , public economics , telephone survey , economics , marketing , business , microeconomics , finance , political science , law
Objectives We report on a nation‐wide study conducted for federal land‐management agencies. Congress mandated a new annual pass for recreational access to U . S . public lands. Methods To assist policymakers in setting a price for the new pass, we administered a national telephone survey with more than 2,000 respondents. Using “contingent valuation” methods, we model willingness to pay for the pass at different prices. Our research design lets us estimate and adjust for hypothetical bias. Results We show that survey respondents (especially those least familiar with the hypothetical good) tend to overstate their true willingness to pay. Conclusions We present the results and describe how our conclusions were used by policymakers to set the price of the new pass at $80. We also demonstrate the external validity of our findings by comparing the projected pass sales from our model to subsequent actual sales.