The Journal of Politics

Table of Contents - May 1983 - Volume 45, Issue 02  

Articles

Measuring the Demand for Environmental Quality with Survey Data

John E. Jacksona1

a1 The University of Michigan

Abstract

Individuals' willingness to pay for public goods and services is a central concept in the analyses of public expenditures and of the performance of political institutions. This concept has proved very difficult to measure, both in the aggregate and for different groups of individuals. This paper presents the results of an approach based on the use of survey data and statistical estimation to make these measurements. The advantages of this approach are the ability directly to relate the measure to the proper theoretical concept and to estimate individual demands so that analyses of the equity implications of alternative policies can be discussed. Application of these measures and of the additional information derived from the individual level estimations is discussed.