Citizen Advisory Committees: A Tool to Remedy the Shortcomings of the Contingent Valuation Method Within the System of Multi-Level Governance

ABSTRACT

The Contingent Valuation Method (CVM) is an economic analysis tool used to measure the utility of producing of public goods, based upon individual’s declared preferences. The public decision-maker is thus able to arbitrate between the expenditure to be made. The approach has been deployed in a centralist conceptual plan, leaving little room for citizens in the decision-making process and it has been undermined by the rise in power, notably in Europe, of multi-level governance. The decision-maker is no longer alone in this process and public decision-making must operate on the basis of common views adopted by various levels of government that should also establish much stronger links with the citizen-users of public goods. This article analyzes the operational impact of Citizen Advisory Committees (CAC) as participative tools of CVM that result in an effective cooperation between the various public actors and the civil society in public decision-making.

KEYWORDS:

• Public management
• citizen participation
• multi-level governance
• individual preferences
• monetarization
• public decision

Other documents

Conseils de Citoyens: Cadre de référence, Ministère des Droits des Femmes de la Ville, de la Jeunesse et des Sports, site internet : http://www.ville.gouv.fr/IMG/pdf/cadre-de-reference-conseils-citoyens.pdf

Correctional Service Canada “Working together,” Citizen Advisory Commitees the Service of canada, Website : http://www.csc-scc.gc.ca/cac/092/dep-eng.pdf

Notes

1. The CVM developed under the influence of the federal government of the United States in the framework of an environmental policy and more particularly from the “Environment Protection Agency” inspired by the founding works of (Arrow et al., 1993; Ciriacy-Wantrup, 1947; Davis, 1963; Diamond & Hausman, 1993; Mitchell & Carson, 1989; Randall, Ives, & Eastman, 1974).

2. Questionnaire – Survey on social and economical utility of sociocultural activities developed within the framework of the local education policy for children and young people.