The Contingent and Hedonic Valuation Methods: Techniques for Valuing a Community's Resources

Abstract

A common task facing many community development practitioners is to develop, assess, and/or evaluate alternative development plans and strategies dealing with communitylevel natural resources and other public goods. Often this requires that economic values be placed on such goods so that they may be efficiently and equitably utilized. In this paper, two economic techniques used for such resource valuations–the contingent and hedonic valuation methods–are presented in a relatively nontechnical manner. This includes an abbreviated history of both techniques, an overview of their respective methodologies, and the review of several actual contingent and hedonic valuation applications to various types of community-based natural resources.