Coherent Arbitrariness: On Value Uncertainty for Environmental Goods

This paper investigates the idea that people are unsure about the value they place on prospective changes in environmental goods. In particular, we focus on a parametric explanation of the determinants of a "value gap," the difference between the most someone is sure they would pay for an increase in an environmental good, and the smallest amount they are sure they would not pay. We also present a simple means of calculating aggregate willingness to pay from data on the range of willingness to pay expressed via a payment ladder.