Valuing Non-Marketed Goods: The Case of Elk Permit Lotteries

Permit allocation methods offer a way of estimating the value of non-marketed elk hunting. Applicants compete for elk hunting permits in Colorado by acquiring preference points that have a monetary cost and by distributing themselves among hunts until their marginal values are equalized. We infer the marginal value of permits from the opportunity costs incurred to acquire these permits and use a hedonic regression analysis to estimate the impact of various hunt characteristics on permit value.