A choice experiment versus a contingent valuation approach to agri-environmental policy valuation

Abstract

The non-market value accruing from an agri-environmental scheme can be examined by assessing the public's willingness to pay for the policy outputs as a whole or by modelling the preferences of society for the component attributes of the rural landscape that result from the implementation of the policy. In this paper we examine if the welfare impacts from implementing an agri-environmental policy are significantly different if one uses a holistic valuation methodology such as contingent valuation or an attribute based valuation methodology such as choice experiments. It is argued that the valuation methodology chosen should be based on whether or not the overall objective is the valuation of the agri-environment policy package in its entirety or the valuation of each of the policy's distinct environmental outputs.