Calibrating Benefit Function Transfer to Assess the Conservation Reserve Program

Benefit transfer offers an inexpensive alternative to conducting an original study to determine economic value. Unfortunately, benefit transfers can also result in biased welfare estimates. In this paper, we suggest a method of calibrating the benefit transfer to reduce this bias. An empirical example to determine the benefits of the Conservation Reserve Program on water-based recreation illustrates the potentially large biases that can result if the transfer is not calibrated.