The goal of this paper is to assess the academic literature written between the Exxon spill and the BP disaster in order to shed light on the fundamental question of validity of the contingent valuation, and more generally, stated preference methods. The fundamental question is straightforward:...

In a static setting, willingness to pay for an environmental improvement is equal to compensating variation. However, in a dynamic setting characterized by uncertainty, irreversibility, and the potential for learning, willingness to pay may also contain an option value. In this paper, we...