An official website of the United States government.

This is not the current EPA website. To navigate to the current EPA website, please go to www.epa.gov. This website is historical material reflecting the EPA website as it existed on January 19, 2021. This website is no longer updated and links to external websites and some internal pages may not work. More information »

Field Testing Existence Values: An Instream Flow Trust Fund for Montana Rivers (1991)

Paper Number: EE-0282

Document Date: 01/04/1991

Author(s):  Duffield, John W., Patterson, David A.

Subject Area(s):

Economic Analysis, Existence Value, Valuation, Contingent Valuation Survey, Water Quality, Water Flow

Keywords:  Economic Analysis, Existence Value, Valuation, Contingent Valuation Survey, Water Quality, Water Flow

Abstract: 

This paper describes a theoretical framework for the comparison of individual responses in a hypothetical contingent valuation setting and a simulated market (or actual cash transaction setting). The total valuation framework includes both direct use as well as existence services. The model is applied to valuation of several instream flow resources for which the existence motive is anticipated to be significant. The payment vehicle is a trust fund that was set up through the cooperation of The Montana Nature Conservancy. To the author's knowledge, this is the first time a field test has been implemented to examine the validity of contingent valuation for measuring primarily nonuse values.

This paper is part of the  Environmental Economics Research Inventory.

You may need a PDF reader to view some of the files on this page. See EPA’s About PDF page to learn more.
  • Field Testing Existence Values: An Instream Flow Trust Fund for Montana Rivers (PDF)(56 pp, 8 MB, 01/04/1991, EE-0282)
    This paper describes a theoretical framework for the comparison of individual responses in a hypothetical contingent valuation setting and a simulated market (or actual cash transaction setting). The total valuation framework includes both direct use as well as existence services. The model is applied to valuation of several instream flow resources for which the existence motive is anticipated to be significant.