Parametric and non-parametric estimates of willingness to pay for forest recreation in Northern Ireland: A discrete choice contingent valuation studywith follow-ups

In this study we show that forest areas contribute significantly to the est imated benefits from om outdoor recreation in Northern Ireland. Secondly we provide empirical evidence of the gains in the statistical efficiency of b oth benefit and parameter estimates obtained by analysing follow-up respons es with Double Bounded interval data analysis. As these gains are considera ble, it is clearly worth considering this method in CVM survey design even when moderately large sample sizes are used. Finally we demonstrate that es timates of means and medians of WTP distributions for access to forest recr eation show plausible magnitude, are consistent with previous UK studies, a nd converge across parametric and non-parametic methods of estimation.