WAS THE OHIO COURT WELL INFORMED IN ITS ASSESSMENT OF THE ACCURACY OFTHE CONTINGENT VALUATION METHOD

The District Court of Appeals for Washington D.C. has upheld a Departm ent of the Interior ruling that accepts as a best available procedure for reliably calculating natural resources damages the Contingent Valu ations Method (CVM). This paper addresses a number of questions that a re relevant for assessing the reliability, or accuracy, of CVM values. Empirical evidence concerning the extent to which CVM subjects behave strategically, i.e., misrepresent their true values, is found to be m ixed. While results from received empirical studies do not support une quivocal conclusions one way or another, their results suggest that CV M values may overestimate real economic commitments by a considerable margin. It is then argued that the courts cannot accept CVM values out of hand; they must carefully assess the demonstrated potential for su ch overestimates of value in their deliberations concerning the use of results from CVM surveys in CERCLA litigation.