ISSUES IN NONMARKET VALUATION AND POLICY APPLICATION: A RETROSPECTIVE GLANCE

Table 3. OLS Regressions of Recreational Values on Several Important Explanatory Variables,
United States, 1987

Independent

Variable

Description
of Variable

Total

Travel Cost Method

Contingent Valuation
Method

Mean (

⅛eflιcient≈

Mean

Coefficient

Mean

Coefficient"

Site quality

1 = High

0.129

33.568*

0.154

39.171*

0.101

25.082*

O = Other

(7.51)

(6.06)

(4.42)

Specialized activity

Percent of Forest

4.917

-0.574*

5.235

-0.679*

4.571

-0.147

Service output

(-2.23)

(-1.83)

(-0.519)

Forest Service

1 = Forest Service

0.230

4.931

0.218

6.204

0.248

2.594

administered

O = Other

(0.98)

(0.84)

(0.42)

Mixed public and

1 = Mixed

0.596

9.891*

0.571

6.933*

0.636

13.539*

private sites

O = Other

(2.29)

(1.12)

(2.46)

Inflationary

1 = 1980-88

0.564

-7.971

0.436

-10.579*

0.721

-16.582*

adjustment

O = 1965-79

(-2.35)

(-2.03)

(-3.31)

Sample coverage

1 = In-state sample

0.115

-6.892

0.186

-11.759*

0.031

-7.464

O = Other

(-1.33)

(-1.77)

(-0.86)

Method

1 = CVM

0.449

-8.098*

—

_

O = TCM

(-2.34)

Sorg-Loomis

1 = Not adjusted

0.578

-4.290

—

_

adjustments

O = Adjusted

(-1.09)

Travel time cost

1 = Omitted

—

0.192

-13.333*

_

O = Included

(-1.90)

Substitution variable

1 = Included

—

0.647

-10.831*

_

O = Omitted

(-2.05)

Individual observation

1 = Indiv. obs.

—

0.333

17.950*

_

O = Other

(3.44)

Household production

1 = HP

—

0.083

9.499

—

& hedonic price

O = Other

(1.03)

Open-ended question

1 = Open-ended

—

—

0.333

-3.659*

O = Other

(-0.76)

Dichotomous choice

1 = Dichotomous

—

—

0.101

3.503

question

O = Other

(0.62)

Southern region

1 = Southern

0.094

-13.089*

0.122

-12.333*

0.062

-10.998*

O = Other

(-2.48)

(-1.66)

(-1.67)

Northwest region

1 = Northwest

0.052

-10.676

—

0.039

-12.186*

O = Other

(-1.47)

(-1.53)

Pacific SW Region

1 = Pacific SW

0.059

-10.683*

—

—

O = Other

(-1.66)

Intermountain region

1 = Intermountain

0.171

-9.252*

—

0.155

-13.517*

O = Other

(-2.18)

(-2.98)

Salt water and

1 = S-A Fishing

0.091

34.566*

0.096

42.939*

0.085

24.454*

anadromous fishing

O = Other

(6.20)

(5.10)

(4.02)

Big game hunting

1 = Big Game

0.199

21.817*

0.186

23.037*

0.209

16.664*

O = Other

(5.33)

(3.58)

(4.04)

Waterfowl hunting

1 = Waterfowl

0.063

11.325*

—

0.093

7.042*

O = Other

(1.80)

(1.28)

Constant

33.579*

33.769*

28.543*

(6.89)

(4.24)

(3.98)

Sample size

287

156

129

Adjusted R²

.36

.39

.44

■ T-ratios are shown in parentheses; a single asterisk indicates that the coefficient is significant at the 0.10 level or greater.

ity, recreation activity, region, method, etc. are

Another critical issue, of course,

in the eval-

held constant, no

significant difference re-

uation of the Sorg and Loomis adjustments is

mains between the mean value of adjusted and

whether they are supported by applied mi-

unadjusted studies.

croeconomic theory, accepted econometric