DOES REALISM MATTER IN CONTINGENT VALUATION SURVEYS

The importance of stressing the realism or policy relevance of a conti ngent valuation (CV) survey is commonly recognized by CV researchers. This paper focuses on the relationship between the probability that a subject's response will result in ''real'' consequences and the subjec t's accurate reporting of willingness to pay. Results from experiments support the argument that efforts to make contingent valuation survey s ''real'' are important. However, our, results also suggest that the connection between the survey and the likelihood of a payment must be rather powerful before surveys generate accurate reporting of willingn ess to pay for a public good.