Designing Contingent Valuation (CV) Surveys for Estimating Use Values: Some Experience from a Case Study of a Water Supply Project

Contingent Valuation Method (CVM) is a frequently used non-market valuation method of eliciting use values of infrastructural projects in developing countries. The main criticism against it is that it has biases and the results are unreliable. Yet, it is used indiscriminately, especially in the developing countries. Consequently, the policy decisions lead to inefficient outcomes. CV studies should focus more on addressing the theoretical, methodological and other empirical issues rather than merely eliciting ‘numbers.’ This paper, drawing mainly from a case study, discusses how an ‘ideal’ CV survey can be conducted for estimating ‘use values’ in developing countries.