Valuing Beach Access and Width with Revealed and Stated Preference Data

In this article we present results from a study of recreation demandfor southern North Carolina beaches. We combine revealed preference andstated preference data in order to estimate the changes in recreation demandthat might occur with beach nourishment and parking improvements necessaryto satisfy the requirements for U.S. Army Corps of Engineers cost-share. We illustratethe numerous ways that hypothetical bias in stated preference data canlead to increases in the estimates of the economic benefits of recreation and recreationquality improvement. Hypothetical bias affects estimates of the numberof trips and slope coefficients. Hypothetical bias does not affect elasticity orconsumer surplus per-trip estimates. When the product of trips and consumersurplus per trip is taken as an estimate of consumer surplus per season, hypotheticalbias leads to upwardly biased seasonal consumer surplus estimates.These results suggest that stated preference recreation demand data, in isolationfrom revealed preference data, may be suitable for estimation of consumer surplusper trip but not consumer surplus per season.