Measuring how fish consumption advisories affect angler’s utility has proven difficult. Relying on stated preference (SP) data is problematic because of hypothetical bias. Revealed preference (RP) data benefits from using actual behavior; however, co-linearity often makes it difficult to model...

To evaluate the impact of soil conservation on reservoir services, we extend replacement cost theory to cases where reservoir benefits are restored or preserved for multiple years. The framework is used to value the effect that a marginal change in soil erosion has on current and future...

In 2000, concerned about the risks of wildfires to local homes, the Colorado Springs Fire Department rated the wildfire risk of 35,000 housing parcels within the wildland-urban interface and made its findings available online. We examine the effectiveness of this rating project by comparing the...

Policymakers are increasingly making use of benefits transfer in benefit-cost assessments of environmental policy. An important question is how big the resultant errors are, and how sensitive errors are to how the transfer is conducted. We employ a choice experiment focusing on landscape...

At the very heart of environmental cost-benefit analysis (CBA) is the claim that benefits and costs can be expressed in terms of money and hence made comparable. In particular, CBA puts all benefits and costs on a cardinal, monetary scale: it assumes monetary commensurability. A significant...

We examine how location in a gated community affects the value of a single-family home and the valuation of a beach. Using data on 2,358 sales on barrier islands near Charleston, South Carolina, the empirical results indicate that homeowners pay a premium of 18.6% for a property in a gated...

This paper examines the role of participation as a tool for improving individuals’ perceptions and environmental values using a test-retest experiment conducted in south-eastern Nigeria. Two identical contingent valuation experiments were interspersed by participatory workshops designed to...

This study uses actual payments toward the provision of a public good to compare dichotomous choice and payment card formats. The public good in question is the environmental improvement from wind generation of electric power. We find that willingness-to-pay estimates vary with the elicitation...

This paper examines the role of insurances to reduce uncertainty associated with climate change losses for individuals. Of special interest is the value individuals place on the reduction of increased flood risks by insurance coverage. Using rank-dependent utility and prospect theories, risk...