The city of New Orleans suffered extensive damage as a result of Hurricane Katrina. Rebuilding involves decisions on investment in protective measures. An exhaustive list of protective measures has been studied in planning documents, with public comment solicited in town hall meetings. In this...

The purpose of this paper is to test for scope effects with the contingent valuation method. We use data from a telephone survey focusing on water quality improvements in the Albemarle and Pamlico Sounds in North Carolina. We find that the willingness to pay estimates are sensitive to the scope...

Willingness to pay for quality change may depend on heterogeneous perceived quality levels. Contingent valuation studies should include measures of quality perceptions as covariates in the willingness to pay model in order to avoid omitted variable bias. Variation in quality perceptions across...

In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, many evacuees from the Gulf region began the difficult process of deciding whether to rebuild or restart elsewhere. We examine pre-Katrina Gulf residents' decision to return to the postdisaster Gulf region—which we call the “return migration” decision. We...