Hypothetical Surveys and Real Economic Commitments

We provide controlled laboratory evidence that open-ended hypothetical surveys do not always accurately elicit real economic commitments from individuals. We argue that they can provide biased measures of true values, where the latter are elicited using incentive-compatible institutions. We also eva...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Land economics 1994-05, Vol.70 (2), p.145-154
Main Authors: Neill, Helen R., Cummings, Ronald G., Ganderton, Philip T., Harrison, Glenn W., McGuckin, Thomas
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Auctions
Bidding
Cash
Comparative studies
Dominant strategy
Economic aspects
Economic commitments
Economic value
Economics
Environmental impact analysis
Environmental protection
Estimating techniques
Estimation bias
Experiment design
Land economics
Methods
Null hypothesis
Polls & surveys
Public good
Statistical analysis
Valuation
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Summary:We provide controlled laboratory evidence that open-ended hypothetical surveys do not always accurately elicit real economic commitments from individuals. We argue that they can provide biased measures of true values, where the latter are elicited using incentive-compatible institutions. We also evaluate if it is the hypothetical-payment aspect of these surveys which results in these biases or the lack of explicitly incentive-compatible provision rules. We conclude that it is the former. We are unable to devise a hypothetical survey that uses an incentive-compatible provision rule to elicit valuations that are demonstrably truthful.
ISSN:0023-7639
1543-8325
DOI:10.2307/3146318