ARE STATED PREFERENCES INVARIANT TO THE PROSPECT OF REAL-MONEY CHOICE?

This paper reports on a choice experiment where respondents stated their preferences for different wetland parcels. The study used hypothetical surveys to measure respondents' preferences, but in one survey version respondents expected and received a follow-up question involving real monetary payments. The results indicate that those respondents who received hypothetical surveys that included a real-money question registered a different preference function from those respondents who received a survey that asked respondents to answer hypothetical questions only. The study finds that respondents may reverse their preferences for parcel attributes, such as public access to the parcel as related to presentation