Journal of Political Economy Vol. 107 No. 1 1999
Are Hypothetical Referenda Incentive Compatible? A comment
Abstract
In a recent article in this Journal, Cummings al. (1997) offer experimental evidence rejecting the hypothesis that a hypothetical referendum is an incentive‐compatible mechanism for obtaining the social value of, or willingness to pay for, changes in the allocation of environmental goods and services. While cautions in offering a blanket rejection of hypothetical referenda as a means of measuring economic values on the basis of their findings, the authors do suggest that at least in experimental settings respondents appear to behave differently when real money is changing hands. Wheather hypothetical situations adequately mimic real‐market situations has been debated in the contigent valuation literature since its inception (see Cummings, Brookshire, and Schulze 1986). Cummings et al.'s finding of incentive incompatibility appears to offer strong evidence for the critics of hypothetical referenda.
- DOI
- 10.1086/250056
- Volume
- 107
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 186-196
- Language
- en
- Sources
- openalex crossref bibtex:phds-export.bib