PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Tiziana Luisetti
AU  - Ian J. Bateman
AU  - R. Kerry Turner
TI  - Testing the Fundamental Assumption of Choice Experiments: Are Values Absolute or Relative?
AID  - 10.3368/le.87.2.284
DP  - 2011 May 01
TA  - Land Economics
PG  - 284--296
VI  - 87
IP  - 2
4099  - http://le.uwpress.org/content/87/2/284.short
4100  - http://le.uwpress.org/content/87/2/284.full
SO  - Land Econ2011 May 01; 87
AB  - A split sample experiment is conducted to test one of the most fundamental assumptions underpinning choice experiments in an environmental setting: whether stated values are absolute or relative. The test uses a natural experiment involving respondents at different home locations relative to potential new wetland sites. Respondents were presented with one of two ranges of distances. An absolute value interpretation requires that the functional relations with distance derived from these two ranges be consistent with each other. We reject a null hypothesis of no range bias, suggesting that respondents may perceive attribute levels in a relative rather than absolute sense. (JEL D81, Q26)