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Ethical Preferences and the Assessment of Existence Values: Does the Neoclassical Model Fit?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 May 2017

Steven F. Edwards
Steven F. Edwards*
Affiliation:
Marine Policy and Ocean Management Center, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, Massachusetts
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Abstract

Some of the implications of ethical preferences for traditional welfare analyses of existence values are discussed in this paper and illustrated with a lexicographic model for preference structures. Although willingness-to-pay and willingness-to-sell are well-defined, their connection with Hicksian surpluses is lost when a person is motivated by an ethical commitment to others’ welfare. Researchers need to expand contingent valuation methods to collect information on underlying motives and types of preferences in order to identify respondents who fit the neoclassical model of egoistic man.

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Type
Articles
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Northeastern Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics , Volume 15 , Issue 2 , October 1986 , pp. 145 - 150
Copyright
Copyright © 1986 Northeastern Agricultural and Resource Economics Association 

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Footnotes

Research funding was provided by the J. N. Pew, Jr. Charitable Trust and the Marine Policy Center of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (Contribution Number 6324). The helpful comments from James Broadus, John Gates, and two anonymous reviewers are acknowledged gratefully. Any opinions, errors, or omissions are the author's.

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