Introduction
This project will develop and evaluate a next generation approach to stated preference (SP) valuation, Free-form Choice Experiments (FCEs). FCEs restructure the way that willingness to pay(WTP) is elicited and estimated, hybridizing methods from contingent valuation, choice experiments (CEs), revealed preference modeling, online labor pool survey sampling, and Bayesian econometrics. The approach is developed to estimate use/nonuse WTP for water quality and ecosystem service (ES) improvements across river networks.
The approach will be developed and tested using a case study of water quality benefit estimation across the northeast US. Biogeochemical and ecological projections for valuation scenarios will be projected using FrAMES (Framework for Aquatic Modeling of the Earth System), a process-based spatially explicit modeling system. The result will be development and testing of a novel, next generation approach to SP valuation. The approach will be modular, so that each developed element may be used independently or in combination. Because the approach is based on a hybridization of techniques already proven in separate areas of the economics and non-economics literature, we anticipate a high likelihood of success.
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