Economic values are increasingly used in policy analysis and legal settings. With the growing recognition that many of the things that benefit or harm people are outside the market system, have come increasing efforts to develop nonmarket valuation techniques. One such technique is the contingent valuation method (CVM). CVM seeks to value environmental and other nonmarket goods and services by asking individuals about their values using survey methods. These procedures are different from the revealed-preference' methods that economists have historically employed to estimate economic values....

Economic values are increasingly used in policy analysis and legal settings. With the growing recognition that many of the things that benefit or harm people are outside the market system, have come increasing efforts to develop nonmarket valuation techniques. One such technique is the contingent valuation method (CVM). CVM seeks to value environmental and other nonmarket goods and services by asking individuals about their values using survey methods. These procedures are different from the revealed-preference' methods that economists have historically employed to estimate economic values....