Title

Virtual experiments and environmental policy

Authors

Authors

S. M. Fiore; G. W. Harrison; C. E. Hughes;E. E. Rutstrom

Comments

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Abstract

We develop the concept of virtual experiments and consider their application to environmental policy. A virtual experiment combines insights from virtual reality in computer science, naturalistic decision-making from psychology, and field experiments from economics. The environmental policy applications of interest to us are the valuation of wild fire management policies such as prescribed burn. The methodological objective of virtual experiments is to bridge the gap between the artefactual controls of laboratory experiments and the naturalistic domain of field experiments or direct field studies. This should provide tools for policy analysis that combine the inferential power of replicable experimental treatments with the natural "look and feel" of a field domain. We present data from an experiment comparing valuations elicited by virtual experiments to those elicited by instruments that have some of the characteristics of standard survey instruments, and conclude that responses in the former reflect beliefs that are closer to the truth. (C) 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Journal Title

Journal of Environmental Economics and Management

Volume

57

Issue/Number

1

Publication Date

1-1-2009

Document Type

Article

First Page

65

Last Page

86

WOS Identifier

WOS:000264758200005

ISSN

0095-0696

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