Contingent valuation and collective choice

Contingent valuation (CV) is a widely used but controversial survey-based technique for estimating the nonmarket benefits of environmental goods and services. This study is the first to compare the outcome of a self-contained CV survey with the outcome of a collective decision, by contrasting hypothetical willingness to pay with willingness to pay inferred from aggregate voting returns and tax liability distributions. The empirical dataset is from a CV survey and a referendum on a proposition to increase financing for landscape and heritage protection in the canton of Zurich, Switzerland. Voting-based willingness to pay was only a small fraction of stated willingness to pay, indicating an inflation in values due to the hypothetical context