In this paper we explore the idea that people only know the value they place on a given environmental change as a range, rather than as a singleton. We use the payment ladder design of contingent valuation, and take as a case study the value of coastal water quality improvements in Scotland....

The sources of preference uncertainty in contingent valuation (CV) studies have rarely been investigated from a theoretical standpoint. This paper proposes a holistic theoretical framework of preference uncertainty that combines microeconomic theory with the theories of cognitive psychology....

In this paper we analyze the multiple-bounded (MB) format in which uncertainty is directly incorporated into the WTP question. We introduce a new approach to estimate mean and median willingness to pay (WTP) using MB data by allowing respondents to expand their WTP intervals by shifting their...

The public demand for ecosystem services measured by willingness to pay (WTP) in contingent valuation studies provides important information for designing Payment-for-Ecosystem-Service (PES) programs. However, the hypothetical markets for contingent valuation and respondents’ unfamiliarity...

In this paper, we propose an alternative preference uncertainty measurement approach where respondents have the option to indicate their willingness to pay (WTP) for a nature protection program either as exact values or intervals from a payment card, depending on whether they are uncertain about...

The numerical certainty scale (NCS) and polychotomous choice (PC) methods are two widely used techniques for measuring preference uncertainty in contingent valuation (CV) studies. The NCS follows a numerical scale and the PC is based on a verbal scale. This paper presents results of two...

This paper establishes a new method for eliciting Willingness to Pay (WTP) in contingent valuation (CV) studies with an open-ended elicitation format: the Range-WTP method. In contrast to the traditional approach for eliciting Point-WTP, Range-WTP explicitly allows for preference uncertainty in...

Coffee consumption in China is increasing rapidly over the recent years. This study offers one of the few initial attempts to not only understand general consumption behavior associated with Chinese coffee, but to explore the viability of niche markets for coffee with the credence attribute...

We examine starting point bias in CV surveys with dichotomous choice payment questions and follow-ups, and double-bounded models of the WTP responses. We wish to investigate (1) the seriousness of the biases for the location and scale parameters of WTP in the presence of starting point bias; (2)...