Stated Preferences, Real Behaviour and Anchoring: Some Empirical Evidence

Richard O‘Conor, Magnus Johannesson and Per-Olov Johansson

Environmental & Resource Economics, 1999, vol. 13, issue 2, 235-248

Abstract: We compare different contingent valuation question formats with each other and with observed behaviour for a non-monetary estimation task, the expected number of kilometers travelled by automobile. Open-ended questions, open-ended follow-up questions, dichotomous choice (DC) questions, and double-bound DC questions are included. The single and double-bound DC questions result in an estimated mean about twice as high as the actual value and the open-ended mean. The DC question overestimation seems to be due to an anchoring effect leading to ‘yea-saying’ behaviour. Our results about the difference between DC questions and open-ended questions is consistent with the pattern observed in contingent valuations studies of the willingness to pay. Our results indicates that DC questions seem to be associated with a general overestimation problem that is present even for simple non-monetary estimation tasks. Copyright Kluwer Academic Publishers 1999

Keywords: contingent valuation; dichotomous-choice; hypothetical questions; real behaviour (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1999
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (37)

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DOI: 10.1023/A:1008271219089

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