Non-Participation in Choice Models: Hurdle and Latent Class Models

In repeated choice modelling studies, it is often the case that individuals always select the status quo option. Although these choices may reflect considered choices, they may also be the result of alternative decisions about whether to participate in the choice process at all. Alternative methods of dealing with this feature of such data are presented, with the implications for estimates of economic values. In particular we consider the alternatives of excluding such individuals from the data, using hurdle models to explicitly model this group, and consider the possibility of latent class models, that endogenously allow for difference preference structures. The application is to a stated preference choice modelling data set that investigates preferences towards forms of GM foods.