CHAPTER IV 



CONTINGENT VALUATION ESTIMATES 



Valuation Questions Asked 



Mountain lion hunters were asked how much they spent on lion 

 hunting/chasing during the 1993/1994 season as well as what this 

 activity was worth to them over and above what they actually 

 spent. A dichotomous choice contingent valuation question format 

 was used. The actual question read: 



Suppose that everything about this last season was the same 

 except your trip expenses increased b y Sxxx x , would you still 

 have hunted/chased Mtn. lions? 



This economic valuation question presented the respondent with a 

 specific dollar amount which he/she could response "yes or no" 

 to, similar to an actual market situation. The dollar amounts 

 ($xxxx) were one of ten predetermined bid levels and were 

 randomly selected ranging from $25 to $500. 



Outlier and Protest Response s 



The analysis of the responses to the CVM questions requires that 

 responses to these questions be excluded if they are willing but 

 unable to pay the stated bid amount or they are protesting in 

 some way the hypothetical market. 



In the first case, if a respondent answers yes to the bid amount 

 but is obviously unable to pay this amount based on their income 

 they are removed from the analysis. Economic theory requires 

 both a willingness and ability to pay. Ability to pay was 

 calculated by determining what percent of their income hunters 

 were spending on mountain lion hunting/chasing. The following 

 equation shows how this was calculated: 



Percent = (Total + Bid) / Income 

 where : 



Total = total amount spent for the season 

 Bid = bid amount asked 

 Income= reported annual income 



Initially, all respondents with a Percent equal to or greater 

 than one were excluded since this group obviously lacks the 



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