Abstract
In contrast to providing standard reminders about remembering household budgets, does asking survey respondents about their discretionary income and its use affect their voting responses in a national advisory referendum survey.? We explore this question using U.S. household data from a unique set of multi-mode random samples (telephone and Internet surveys), and an advisory referendum concerning the Kyoto Protocol. The contingent valuation method is applied to estimate household willingness to pay (WTP) for a split-sample treatment: respondents who only received a standard reminder of household budgets (control group) versus respondents who received two mental accounting-type questions on discretionary income and its uses (treatment group). Results indicate that the treatment significantly influences voting responses and lowers estimated household WTP.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 350-366 |
Number of pages | 17 |
Journal | Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics |
Volume | 30 |
Issue number | 2 |
Publication status | Published - 1 Aug 2005 |
Keywords
- mental accounts
- referendum
- budget constraint
- contingent valuation
- Kyoto Protocol