Resumen de Testing convergent validity in choice experiments: application to public recreation in Spanish Stone pine and Cork oak forests
José L. Oviedo, Alejandro Caparrós Gass, Itziar Ruiz de Gauna Ruiz de Loizaga, Pablo Campos Palacín
We perform two convergent validity tests in a choice experiment applied to public recreation in Stone pine and Cork oak forests in Spain. We compare choice and ranking recoded as a choice in an experiment with three alternatives plus status quo. Our results show convergent validity for both structural models and willingness to pay estimates. The same experiment includes two payment-vehicles, an entrance-fee to access the forest and an increase in trip-expenditures due to an increase in gas prices, simultaneously in the choice sets. We obtain significant differences in willingness to pay values, which are 2.6-2.7 times higher when using the latter. Our empirical results present compensating variations and the (simulated) exchange value that the forest owner would obtain if a payment system for accessing these forests were established. The latter values fall below the former ones.
