Date(s): November 20, 2008, 2:00-3:30pm

Location: Room 4144, EPA West

Contact: Carl Pasurka, 202-566-2275

Presenter(s): John Whitehead (Appalachian State University)

Description: The speaker and his co-authors consider the convergent validity of several demand models using beach recreation data. Two models employ multiple site data, the linked site-selection and trip frequency demand model and the Kuhn-Tucker demand system model. They exploit the effect of the existing variation in beach width on trip choices to analyze a 100 foot increase in beach width. They compare these models to a single site model where we jointly estimate revealed and stated preference data focusing on a hypothetical scenario that directly considers a 100 foot increase in beach width. In each case they develop estimates of the increased number of beach trips with an increase in beach width and the value of beach width. The trip estimates from each of the three models are similar and convergent valid. The convergent validity statistical test on willingness to pay suggests that the estimates converge between these models. However, the difference in magnitude is large.

This presentation is based on the paper titled "Convergent Validity of Revealed and Stated Recreation Behavior with Quality Change: A Comparison of Multiple and Single Site Demands"  Exit.

Seminar Category: Environmental Economics