| During the past 15 or so years, a considerable number of valuation studies have been published in German language concerning nature conservation mostly in the agrarian countryside, using the Contingent Valuation Method (CVM). These are documented here and briefly commented on. In the sequel, well-known objections in the literature against this method are discussed and rejected or at least attenuated, thereby referring to more comprehensive literature. Upon careful design, the results from CVM studies bear closer examination as to their reliability. It seems doubtful, however, and must even be regarded as refuted in some special cases that their very objective, as formulated from a rigorous microeconomic position, is achieved, that is the disclosure of the... |
