After several decades of academic research on the contingent valuation (CV) method a consistent behavioral explanation of ‘hypothetical bias’ is still lacking. Based on evidence from economics, economic psychology and the political sciences, I propose an explanation that is based on two simple working hypotheses about respondent behaviour in contingent valuation surveys. The first hypothesis is...

This paper introduces model specifications that can be used to explain response incentive effects that might occur with discrete response contingent valuation data when follow-up responses are collected. The models allowfor possible random response shocks, structural ships in willingness to pay betweenpayment questionsand heteroskedasticity between and within responses. Three well-known conting...

In this paper we propose and test a valuation methodology for improving the efficiency of contingent claims pricing using Artificial Neural Networks (ANN). Contingent claims is by now a standard method for pricing under uncertainty nonlinear (option embedded) contracts, for both financial options (standardized or customized) and real (investment) opportunities. In the presence of liquid option ...

A large body of literature suggests individuals behave differently when responding to hypothetical valuation questions than when actual payment is required. Such findings have generated a great deal of skepticism over the use of the contingent valuation method and benefit measures derived from it. Recently, a new method, cheap talk, has been proposed to eliminate the potential bias in hypotheti...