Ronald G. Cummings

Hypothetical Surveys and Real Economic Commitments

We provide controlled laboratory evidence that open-ended hypothetical surveys do not always accurately elicit real economic commitments from individuals. We argue that they can provide biased measures of true values, where the latter are elicited using incentive-compatible institutions. We also evaluate if it is the hypothetical-payment aspect of these surveys which results in these biases or the lack of explicitly incentive-compatible provision rules. We conclude that it is the former. We are unable to devise a hypothetical survey that uses an incentive-compatible provision rule to elicit valuations that are demonstrably truthful.

Are Hypothetical Referenda Incentive Compatible

Hypothetical referenda have been proposed as an incentive‐compatible mechanism that can be used to obtain social valuations of environmental resources. We employ experimental methods to test the hypothesis that such referenda are indeed incentive compatible. Our results lead us to reject that hypothesis.

The measurement and decomposition of nonuse values: A critical review

We critically review the literature that claims that existence values, or nonuse values in general, are a large and measurable component of total value for certain environmental resources. Our concern is not with the question “do nonuse values exist?” For some individuals they surely do. Rather, our concern is with two interrelated questions: are there operationally meaningful theorems which might lead to the specific measurement of nonuse values, and do we in fact have a body of credible evidence which shows that nonuse values, particularly components of any nonuse value, are “large”? We find nothing in the way of operationally meaningful hypotheses which would permit the estimation of values attributable to specific motives of individuals. We find no credible basis for claims related to either the measurement of existence and other motive-related values or claims for the “large” relative size of such values. In short, we question the conventional wisdom that such values are measurable and that they are significant as a component of total value.

Substitution Effects in CVM Values

There is increasing recognition that statistical estimates of the average willingness to pay for environmental programs may be biased by the failure of respondents, or of the statistical methodology, to consider the effect of substitute programs and goods. We design and implement a CVM survey that estimates the impact of substitution effects on the willingness to pay for an environmental program. We find a statistically significant impact and suggest that the set of potential substitutes is very large.

Induced-value tests of the referendum voting mechanism

Abstract An induced-value laboratory experiment is conducted testing the incentive compatibility of the referendum voting mechanism for eliciting willingness to pay for public goods. Although errors were observed at the individual level, aggregate results suggest incentive compatibility in both hypothetical and real referenda.

A Learning Design for Reducing Hypothetical Bias in the Contingent Valuation Method

Over the last few years a great deal of research has focussed on hypothetical bias in value estimates obtained with the contingent valuation (CV) method and on means for ameliorating if not eliminating such bias. To date, efforts to eliminate hypothetical bias have relied on calibration techniques or on word-smithing of one kind or another to induce subjects to provide responses to hypothetical questions that mimic responses made by subjects facing actual payments in the valuation experiment. This paper introduces a different approach for eliminating hypothetical bias. A design for a CV survey format is presented which provides subjects with the opportunity to “learn” how the CV institution works. Sequential referenda are conducted where respondents gain experience in CV settings by participating in both hypothetical and real referenda. The logic of this Learning Design is a straightforward application of the trials process used in experimental economics. We demonstrate that the Learning Design is effective in eliminating hypothetical bias in surveys concerning donations to two different public goods.

Cultural Diversity, Discrimination, And Economic Outcomes: An Experimental Analysis

Economists have paid increasing attention to the role of cultural diversity in explaining the variability of economic outcomes across societies. We develop an experimental framework that complements existing research in this area. We implement the framework with two cultures that coexist in an industrialized society: the Hispanic and Navajo cultures in the southwestern United States. We vary the ethnic mix of our experimental sessions in order to infer the effect of intercultural interactions on economic behavior and outcomes. We control for demographic differences in our subject pools and elicit beliefs directly in order to differentiate between statistical discrimination and preference-based discrimination. We present clear evidence that Hispanic and Navajo subjects behave differently and that their behavior is affected by the ethnic composition of the experimental session. Our experimental framework has the potential to shed much needed light on economic behavior and outcomes in societies of mixed ethnicity, race and religion.

Natural Resource Management, the Steady State, and Approximately Optimal Decision Rules

A dynamic optimatization model incorporating interrelationships among soil loss, topsoil depth, net farm income, and technological progress is developed. The model provides optimal values of soil loss and soil depth which maximize the stream of net farm ...

Optimal municipal investment in boomtowns An empirical analysis

Abstract The primary concern of this paper is the use of wage-infrastructure trade-offs as a measure for the social benefits of municipal infrastructure in boomtowns. A regression based on pooled cross sectional and time series data for 26 towns in the Rocky Moutain region suggests that individuals will “trade off” a 1% increase in per capita stocks of municipal infrastructure for a 0.035% decline in wages. These results are then used to calculate “optimal” levels of infrastructure investment for an example boomtown.

To whisper in the ears of princes: laboratory economic experiments and environmental policy

Top European and American scholars contribute to this cutting-edge volume on little-researched areas of environmental and resource economics. Topics include spatial economics, poverty and development, experimental economics, large-scale risk and its management, organizational economics, technological innovation and diffusion and many more.