Abstract:
Benefit transfer is increasingly being used by decision makers as a way of estimating environmental
values suitable for use in benefit cost analysis. However, recent studies examining the validity
of benefit transfer of passive use values estimated using contingent valuation have rejected the
hypothesis of convergent validity. In this article, we demonstrate the usage of a form of conjoint
analysis known as choice modeling for benefit transfer. Choice modeling has been touted as being
particularly suitable for benefit transfer because it is possible to allow for differences in environmental
quality and socioeconomic characteristics when transferring benefit estimates. We demonstrate
that choice modeling is suitable for benefit transfer, particularly when the transfers involve implicit
prices. Second, we examine the circumstances in which benefit transfer of choice modeling derived
value estimates is likely to be most valid. Two split sample tests were undertaken to achieve this
objective. The evidence from these tests indicates that transfers across different case study sites are
likely to be subject to less error than those across different populations.
