International Choice Modelling Conference, International Choice Modelling Conference 2009

Investigating willingness to pay – willingness to accept asymmetry in choice experiments

Bruno Lanz, Allan Provins, Ian Bateman, Ece Ozdemiroglu, Riccardo Scarpa, Ken Willis

Last modified: 15 March 2009

Abstract


We examine discrepancies between WTP and WTA responses within a choice experiment frame. We test linear and non-linear forms for the utility function allowing for both declining marginal utility and loss aversion with respect to each attribute. Findings show that there are significant non-linearities in the utility function even when the range of attribute levels is relatively small. This in turn implies that the WTP-WTA ratio varies according to the particular provision change under consideration. An important source for the WTP-WTA disparity observed is found to be significant loss-aversion in all the attributes including the price, an issue not typically considered in choice experiment applications.


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