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A Comparison of Actual and Hypothetical Willingness to Pay of Parents and Non-Parents for Protecting Infant Health: The Case of Nitrates in Drinking Water

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 January 2015

John Loomis ,
Paul Bell ,
Helen Cooney  and
Cheryl Asmus
John Loomis
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO
Paul Bell
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO
Helen Cooney
Affiliation:
Department of Corrections, Colorado Springs, CO
Cheryl Asmus
Affiliation:
Health District of Northern Larimer County, Fort Collins, CO
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Abstract

We estimate adults' willingness to pay (WTP) to reduce health risks to their own or other families' infants to test for altruism. A conjoint analysis of adults paying for bottled water found marginal WTP for reduction in risk of shock, brain damage, and mortality in the cash treatment of $2, $3.70, and $9.43, respectively. In the hypothetical market these amounts were $14, $26, and $66, indicating substantial hypothetical bias, although not unexpected due to the topic of infant health. Statistical tests confirm a high degree of altruism in our WTP results, and altruism held even when real money was involved.

Keywords

altruismconjointdrinking waternitratesvaliditywillingness to payI10Q53
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics , Volume 41 , Issue 3 , December 2009 , pp. 697 - 712
Copyright
Copyright © Southern Agricultural Economics Association 2009

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