Testing the convergent validity of approaches for valuing national park visitation

Leslie Richardson () and Matthew Flyr
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Leslie Richardson: National Park Service, Social Science Program
Matthew Flyr: National Park Service, Social Science Program

Environmental Economics and Policy Studies, 2024, vol. 26, issue 1, No 5, 120 pages

Abstract: Abstract Recreation values are necessary to inform a variety of planning and management decisions affecting national parks and other public lands. Standard visitor surveys often collect data that can facilitate estimation of such values through either revealed or stated preference approaches. However, several issues can arise when using such data, such as selection of the appropriate per mile rate to apply in travel cost models, limited variation in the number of trips taken to the site in the past year, and limitations in response formats for contingent valuation questions. To explore these issues, we use visitor survey data from Glacier National Park to estimate consumer surplus for a park visit, comparing mean estimates and percentile confidence intervals from several approaches. Exploring convergent validity across these approaches provides some support for the exclusion of depreciation costs when selecting a per mile travel cost rate and caution in using alternative dependent variable specifications in travel cost models.

Keywords: Travel cost method; Contingent valuation method; Convergent validity; National parks (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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DOI: 10.1007/s10018-023-00378-w

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