AVERTING BEHAVIOR IN THE PRESENCE OF PUBLIC SPILLOVERS - HOUSEHOLD CONTROL OF NUISANCE PESTS

This paper empirically implements an averting behavior model for gypsy moth control explicitly recognizing the joint private and public spil lover motivations for control. The results demonstrate that averting b ehavior models can capture complex behavioral influences, suggesting t hat such models can be extended beyond health-related applications. Th e model yields a reduced form parameter which cannot be identified usi ng actual behavior data alone. A method combining models of actual beh avior and contingent behavior is proposed as a way to directly measure the production and preference effects.