The structured value referendum: Eliciting preferences for environmental policy alternatives

Timothy L. McDaniels
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Timothy L. McDaniels: Westwater Research Centre and the School of Community and Regional Planning at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Postal: Westwater Research Centre and the School of Community and Regional Planning at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia

Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 1996, vol. 15, issue 2, 227-251

Abstract: This article introduces a voting-based method for eliciting public preferences, referred to as a structured value referendum (SVR). The process for developing and implementing an SVR is viewed as a version of public sector decision analysis, in which problem-structuring activities are crucial, and preference is elicited on a large scale by voters selecting among specified alternatives. The present study discusses the steps involved in developing an SVR, drawing on the problem-structuring approaches of decision analysis. Next, the advantages offered by SVR are discussed and compared to standard preference elicitation techniques or conventional referendums. A rationale for the use of SVR as an approach to preference elicitation is provided. Political judgments that differentiate SVR from other elicitation approaches are considered; the nature of the preference judgments and the required level of measurement are discussed. Concluding sections of the study discuss the implementation of an SVR for a regional government in British Columbia, in which 34,000 people voted to select among wastewater treatment alternatives for managing a potential environmental risk.

Date: 1996
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wly:jpamgt:v:15:y:1996:i:2:p:227-251

DOI: 10.1002/(SICI)1520-6688(199621)15:2<227::AID-PAM4>3.0.CO;2-L

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