Using the demand for hunting licences to evaluate contingent valuation estimates of willingness to pay

Taking advantage of differences in inflation adjusted licence prices over time, the demand for hunting licences is estimated. This introduces a different type of validity test which compares willingness to pay derived from actual licence demand to estimates of hunting benefits derived by the contingent valuation method. Willingness to pay estimates for deer and elk hunting derived from contingent valuation are statistically less than corresponding estimates from the actual licence sale demand analysis.