Willingness to Pay for Public Goods: A Test of the Contribution Model

This article reports a test of the hypothesis that stated willingness to pay (WTP) for environmental quality follows a contribution model rather than the purchase model that is more congenial to economic thinking In particular, we examine the ability of the Schwartz norm-activation model of altruism to explain six different WTP assessments The Schwartz model explains stated WTP for environmental quality, except when payments are framed as taxes We suggest that models should presume that both altruistic and egoistic considerations may affect stated WTP and that framing may affect their relative contributions