Incomplete beliefs and nonmarket valuation

We explore implications of the failure of the individual to behave in accordance with the predictions of the utility maximization paradigm for the application of consumer sovereignty principles to the valuation of environmental foods. A subjective probability framework is used to develop an index of the completeness and the coherence of the individual's risk-neutral beliefs and valuations. These beliefs and valuations are shown to be institution-dependent, and thus endogenous to the choices the individual makes about the medium in which to express herself. A variety of propositions about the influence of incomplete beliefs on value expressions is derived. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V.