Contingent valuation: (still) on the road to nowhere?

Smith, Richard D and Sach, Tracey H (2009) Contingent valuation: (still) on the road to nowhere? Health Economics, 18 (8), 863-6. (doi:10.1002/hec.1527).

Record type: Editorial

Abstract

In this journal in 2001 Olsen and Smith, after systematically reviewing empirical contingent valuation (CV) studies in healthcare, had 'the distinct feeling of a huge mismatch between the theoretical glory of willingness-to-pay and the usefulness for public health policyof the majority of surveys which have applied this method' (Olsen and Smith, 2001, p. 47). Since then, there has continued to be an increase in the number of CV studies being published and their scope of application; from one or two per year in the late 1908s to 38 in 2005, conducted in more than 35 countries and across a wide spectrum of clinical/disease area and intervention types (Sachs et al., 2007) It seems fair then to ask in light of this expansionof activity and passage of time: does this feeling still hold? Is CV (still) on a road to the 'nowhere' of policy irrelevance, of have significant advances been made to capture the theoretical glories it offers? If this feelingdoes still hold, why, and what may be done about it?

This record has no associated files available for download.