Contingent Valuation: Past, Present and Future

Abstract

This paper summarizes the long history of the contingent valuation method, stressing the important dates and events that influenced its economic applications. It reviews the economic theory of contingent valuation, highlights the related survey design, alludes to the econometrics methodology involved and discusses the validity and reliability of this method. In summary, this paper presents the state of the art of a method that has been applied in the economic valuation of natural resources for many decades.