Yea-saying in contingent valuation surveys

A number of recent papers have provided estimates of willingness to pay der ived in contingent valuation surveys exceeding those revealed in experiment al or real-life markets. One possible explanation for the overestimation of values is the presence of yea-saying. With the objective of reducing the o ccurrence of yea-saying, a new elicitation format, referred to as the disso nance-minimizing (DM)format, is proposed. An empirical comparison of the DM format with the conventional dichotomous-choice (DC) format and the ambiva lence-reducing polychotomous choice (PC) format suggested by Ready, Whitehe ad, and Blomquist (1995) is made. Results are encouraging for the DM. (JEL Q26).