Difference in Preferences or Multiple Preference Orderings? Comparing Choices of Environmental Bureaucrats, Recreational Anglers, and the Public

Do Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) bureaucrats represent the general public or are they more in line with an interest group? We study preferences for environmental policy using a choice experiment (CE) on three populations; the general public, Swedish EPA bureaucrats, and recreational anglers. We also test for existence of multiple preference orderings: Half of the respondents were asked to choose the alternatives that best corresponded with their opinion, and the other half was asked to take the role of a policy-maker and make recommendations for environmental policy. The SEPA bureaucrats have the highest marginal willingness to pay (MWTP) to improve environmental quality. Differences in MWTP are robust and not due to differences in socio-economic characteristics across the populations. We only found weak evidence of multiple preference orderings.