Contrary to welfare economic theory, empirical evidence suggests that the a
mount of money people are willing-to-accept (WTA) to forego a commodity wil
l generally exceed the amount of money they are willing-to-pay (WTP) to gai
n the commodity. This paper undertakes an experimental examination of the W
TA-WTP disparity using conventional and ecologically produced eggs. The res
ults of this experiment reveal that the difference between the mean WTP and
WTA for conventional eggs is negligible while the mean WTA is more than 1.
5 times higher than the mean WTP in the case of ecological eggs. An explana
tion for this result is offered following the Boyce et al. (Boyce, R.B., Br
own, T.C., McClelland, G.H., Peterson, G.L., Schulze, W.D., 1992. An experi
mental examination of intrinsic values as a sourer of the WTA-WTP disparity
. Am. Econ. Rev. 82, 1366-1373) notion that an asymmetrical assignment of m
oral responsibility may cause WTA to exceed WTP. By comparing the two studi
es, a tentative conclusion is that the valuation disparity is likely to inc
rease with a corresponding increase in the degree of assigned moral respons
ibility. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.