Reliability of individual valuations of public and private goods: Choice consistency, response time, and preference refinement

A-Tier
Journal: Journal of Public Economics
Year: 2008
Volume: 92
Issue: 7
Pages: 1595-1606

Authors (6)

Brown, Thomas C. (not in RePEc) Kingsley, David (University of Massachusetts-Lo...) Peterson, George L. (not in RePEc) Flores, Nicholas E. (University of Colorado) Clarke, Andrea (not in RePEc) Birjulin, Andrej (not in RePEc)

Score contribution per author:

0.670 = (α=2.01 / 6 authors) × 2.0x A-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

We examined the reliability of a large set of paired comparison value judgments involving public goods, private goods, and sums of money. As respondents progressed through a random sequence of paired choices they were each given, their response time decreased and they became more consistent, apparently fine-tuning their responses, suggesting that respondents tend to begin a hypothetical value exercise with relatively imprecise preferences and that experience in expressing preference helps reduce that imprecision. Reliability was greater for private than for public good choices, and greater for choices between a good and a monetary amount than for choices between two goods. However, the reliability for public good choices was only slightly lower than for the private goods.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:eee:pubeco:v:92:y:2008:i:7:p:1595-1606
Journal Field
Public
Author Count
6
Added to Database
2026-01-25