Measuring recreation benefits of quality improvements with revealed and stated behavior data

We propose a combined revealed and stated behavior estimation method to mea sure recreation benefits of a fixed quality improvement that directly addre sses the issues of variation in environmental quality beyond the observed r ange and new participation induced by higher quality. We survey a sample of the general population, including non-participants, to obtain stated prefe rence data for trips based on a policy-relevant estuarine quality improveme nt. Panel recreation demand models that take into account new participants induced by the higher quality are estimated and used to derive total consum er surplus. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. JEL classif ication: Q26.