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The use of estimated willingness to pay (WTP) to evaluate welfare associated with changes in the quality of recreational fishing presumes that WTP reflects variations in resource and policy attributes, and is not inappropriately influenced by attributes of applied non-market study methodology. This paper describes a meta-analysis conducted to identify systematic patterns in marginal WTP per fish among recreational anglers. Results establish the presence of systematic WTP variation associated with resource, context, and angler attributes, yet also indicate that WTP is subject to systematic variation associated with study methodology. While results are promising with regard to the ability of non-market research to provide insight regarding WTP for recreational fishery resources, they also suggest that researchers should consider the potential for methodological effects when conducting applied welfare analysis.
Johnston et al. (Sun,) studied this question.