An investigation into the comparability of hypothetical and actual markets for an environmental public good

Currently two methods are commonly employed to estimate the value of an environmental resource. These are the travel cost method and the contingent valuation method. This dissertation empirically examines whether the hypothetical nature of the contingent valuation method produces a hypothetical bias. The results of this dissertation indicate that hypothetical methods, such as the contingent valuation method, may indeed systematically overestimate the value of environmental public goods due to the presence of a hypothetical bias.