Catherine M. Chambers

Contingent Valuation of Quasi-Public Goods: Validity, Reliability, and Application To Valuing a Historic Site

This article employs the contingent valuation method (CVM) to measure the non- market value of preservation of the Ste. Genevieve Academy, a quasi-public good. This study represents a new application of the CVM featuring a historical resource. As such, the authors explore the validity and reliability of this application of the method. Construct validity tests based on economic theory and the reliability test of internal consistency are conducted. The authors find evidence that the CVM can be a useful approach for measuring the nonmarket value of quasi-public goods such as historical resources. The authors also illustrate how the CVM can be used for policy analysis of preservation of historical sites.

Economic Growth and Threatened and Endangered Species Listings: A VAR Analysis §

We conduct several analyses to examine the link between threatened and endangered species listings and macroeconomic activity. Preliminary tests using ordinary least squares are run on both time series data on the national level and cross sectional data at the state level. The analysis is then extended using vector autoregressive (VAR) techniques. VAR results, impulse response functions and variance decompositions are reported to shed more light on the causal relationships between threatened and endangered species, GDP and population. Our results indicate that there is little or no empirical evidence that GDP growth rates lead to changes in the number of threatened and endangered species listings.

Implicit markets for the characteristics of outdoor recreation goods: The case of backpacks

Abstract We use hedonic techniques to estimate the implicit prices of various characteristics of backpacks. Previously, the hedonic method has been used to assess the value of individual characteristics of many goods, including computers, automobiles, and housing. Since theory does not suggest a specific functional form, we perform a Box-Cox search for the best functional form. Next, hedonic regressions are run to estimate the value of characteristics of the backpacks. Finally, an analysis of best and worst buys is conducted based on the implicit prices of characteristics from the hedonic regressions.