Altruistic and Private Values For Saving Lives With an Oyster Consumption Safety Program |
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Authors: | John C Whitehead O Ashton Morgan William L Huth Gregory S Martin Richard Sjolander |
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Institution: | 1. Department of Economics, Appalachian State University, Boone, NC, USA;2. Department of Economics and Marketing, University of West Florida, Pensacola, FL, USA;3. Department of Marketing, Northern Kentucky University, Highland Heights, KY, USA |
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Abstract: | We use data from an Internet-based survey and estimate the benefits of an oyster consumption safety policy with the contingent valuation method. In addition to providing a context-specific estimate of willingness-to-pay for oyster safety, we consider an important issue in the contingent valuation mortality risk reduction literature. A number of studies find that willingness-to-pay for mortality risk reduction is not sensitive to the scope of the risk change. We present the scope test as a difference in the number of lives saved by the program, instead of small changes in risk, and find that referendum votes are responsive to scope. A third feature of this article is that we identify those at-risk respondents who would most benefit from the policy and decompose willingness-to-pay into use values and altruistic nonuse values. We find that willingness-to-pay per life saved ranges from $3.95 million to $7.69 million for the private good of lives saved when the respondent is at risk (i.e., use values). Willingness-to-pay per life saved including both use and altruistic nonuse values ranges from $6.89 million to $12.87 million. |
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Keywords: | Altruism contingent valuation food safety scope test |
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