How Precise Are Monetary Representations of Environmental Improvements?

Subjects valued environmental goods using a response mode expressing willingness to pay as a multiplier or divider of a purported Hypothetical willingness to pay was found to be highly dependent on the size of the budgetary unit. Rejecting two other interpretations, we belieue the results suggest that people's contin- gent values are only vaguely represented in mone- tary terms; any dollar amount within a broad range is considered an acceptable expression of value. Although the procedures differ from those of a typical contingent valuation suruey, the results demonstrate some of the difficulties in discovering precise monetary values for environmental re- sources. (JEL Q21)