Does Realism Matter in Contingent Valuation Surveys?

The importance of stressing the realism or policy relevance of a contingent valuation (CV) survey is commonly recognized by CV researchers. This paper focuses on the relationship between the probability that a subject's response will result in "real" consequences and the subject's accurate reporting of willingness to pay. Results from experiments support the argument that efforts to make contingent valuation surveys "real" are important. However, our results also suggest that the connection between the survey and the likelihood of a payment must be rather powerful before surveys generate accurate reporting of willingness to pay for a public good.