Protest beliefs in contingent valuation: Explaining their motivation

The definition and treatment of protest responses in contingent valuation (CV) can have a significant influence on the estimated values of the good in question if these responses are censored. In order to understand how protest responses are motivated, in a CV about forest biodiversity in Germany we used an item battery to identify respondents' protest beliefs. The items were measured for all respondents, irrespective of their willingness to pay (WTP) in principle. Then, a scale based on these beliefs is taken as a dependent variable of regression analyses. In addition to environmental concern we used norms, the warm glow of giving and dilemma concern as further explanatory variables. The latter focuses on cooperation problems in protecting the environment. Our results show that protest beliefs are significantly influenced by the explanatory factors. Furthermore, the protest beliefs themselves have a significant effect on the decision to be WTP as well as on the amount of money stated by those who are WTP. The censoring of protest responses may therefore be indefensible.