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Abstract The contingent valuation method for estimating the existence value of natural resources is examined for psychophysical robustness, statistical reliability, and economic sensibility. Extensions of standard models for willingness‐to‐pay, and suitable econometric techniques for analyzing these models, are developed. The analysis is applied to a series of experiments on the value of preserving wilderness areas in the western United States. The results call into question the reliability of the CV method for estimating existence values.
Daniel McFadden (1994) studied this question.