MEASURING CONTINGENT VALUES FOR WETLANDS - EFFECTS OF INFORMATION ABOUT RELATED ENVIRONMENTAL GOODS

A model of contingent market behavior is developed which emphasizes the role of household information about wetlands and related environmental goods. Information is acquired through previous experience with wetlands and through the contingent market. Households which are unaware of substitute or complement environmental goods when participating in contingent markets may overstate or understate willingness to pay values. This paper estimates willingness to pay for preservation of the Clear Creek wetland in western Kentucky when faced with surface coal mining. We test for the effects of explicit information about related environmental goods on contingent values by measuring the difference in stated willingness to pay. Willingness to pay for preservation of the Clear Creek wetland decreases with information about surface coal mine lake reclamation and, in the initial, independent format increases with information about a nearby publicly owned, wetland area. These findings suggest that the lack of explicit information about related environmental goods in contingent markets can contribute to a misstatement of willingness to pay.