ENVIRONMENTAL VALUE & EVALUATION SURVEYS

In order to value environmental benefits and damages economists often rely upon "contingent valuation" surveys.  After all, we cannot go to the corner grocery store to find the value of clean air, of peace and quiet, or of open space.  Contingent valuation surveys directly ask people what they are willing to pay for a benefit an/or willing to receive in compensation for tolerating a cost through a survey or questionnaire. Personal valuations for increases or decreases in the quantity of some good are obtained contingent upon a hypothetical market. The aim is to elicit valuations or bids which are close to what would be revealed if an actual market existed.

We note that many well respected environmental economists reject the use of contingent valuation surveys, and utilize alternatives such as "conjoint analysis" and "hedonic pricing" models.  We will present additional information on alternative valuation methods and the criticisms of contingent valuation in the future.

We have designed and presented below several of these surveys with two purposes in mind.

The first purpose is educational--to illustrate what a contingent valuation (CV) survey is;

The second purpose is to provide the basis for beginning to use the Internet to actually derive prices and values for goods without markets such as clean air, clean water, and visibility through a heavily sampled, wide ranging, efficient, low cost mechanism. Some of the problems with contingent valuation arise from the costs of fielding accurate surveys.

At present the results have no impact, but we believe that one day this and similar Internet-based surveys will play a role in creating policy.

THESE SURVEYS ARE STILL IN THE DESIGN PHASE AND ARE PRESENTED FOR ILLUSTRATIVE PURPOSES ONLY!

We have attempted to take the questions from peer reviewed journals or government sanctioned reports and have provided references where appropriate.  Note that for many of these surveys, every time the survey is taken the choices offered with respect to dollar values change.  Thus person A will be asked if he or she is willing to spend $20 per year to save a rare species of frog and person B will be asked to spend $30.

DEMOGRAPHIC INFO (Necessary for real CV surveys, but feel free to skip this if you do not feel comfortable)

• DEMOGRAPHIC INFORMATION

LAND

• CONSERVING OLD GROWTH FORESTS
• REAL ESTATE PROFESSIONAL SURVEY ON CONTAMINATED PROPERTIES
• HAZARDOUS FACILITIES
• SPRAWL
• SPRAWL II (SIMPLER QUESTION, SEE RESULTS)
• BROWNFIELDS

• WATER QUALITY from DUKE U. & USEPA (SEE THE RESULTS)
• GROUNDWATER CONTAMINATION
• BEACH RESTORATION
• TRAVEL COST SURVEY OF WATER RECREATION
• ECOSYSTEM VALUATION
• WETLANDS
• COASTAL WATER QUALITY IN COSTA RICA
• EXXON VALDEZ

AIR

• AIR POLLUTION - NOT YET AVAILABLE

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT US? LET US KNOW SO WE CAN IMPROVE OUR SERVICES

• ENVIRONMENTAL DAMAGE VALUATION & COST BENEFIT NEWS
• THE ENVIRONMENTAL DAMAGE VALUATION & COST BENEFIT WEBSITE (SEE THE RESULTS)

Note: this form sends e-mail to SURVEY@DAMAGEVALUATION.COM;

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