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The Role of Expectations and Heterogeneous Preferences for Congestion in the Valuation of Recreation Benefits

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 September 2016

Jeffrey A. Michael  and
Stephen D. Reiling
Jeffrey A. Michael
Affiliation:
Department of Economics, North Carolina State University
Stephen D. Reiling
Affiliation:
Department of Resource Economics and Policy, University of Maine, Orono
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Abstract

Studies of recreation congestion generally utilize nonmarket valuation techniques to determine the use level and entrance price that maximize aggregate recreation benefits for a specific recreation area. This paper improves upon these previous studies by relaxing the assumption of homogeneous preferences among visitors of the same recreation area and accounting for visitor expectations of congestion. The results indicate that failing to account for heterogeneous preferences for congestion by time of visit leads to overestimates of the benefits of relieving peak-time congestion, while accounting for expectations raises questions about the validity of the standard optimal use model.

Type
Articles
Information
Agricultural and Resource Economics Review , Volume 26 , Issue 2 , October 1997 , pp. 166 - 173
Copyright
Copyright © 1997 Northeastern Agricultural and Resource Economics Association 

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