Contingent Valuation in Practice

Contingent valuation is a survey-based methodology for eliciting values people place on goods, services, and amenities. The first contingent valuation study was conducted by Davis (1963) to estimate the value of big game hunting in Maine. A decade later, Hammack and Brown (1974) applied contingent valuation to valuing waterfowl hunting. Simultaneously, an application to valuing visibility in the Four Corners region of the Southwest represented a turning point after which contingent valuation gained recognition as a methodology for estimating Hicksian surplus for public goods (Randall, Ives, and Eastman 1974). Contingent valuation filled a substantial void by providing a way to estimate values when markets do not exist and revealed preference methods are not applicable.