Measuring recreation benefits of quality improvements with revealed and stated behavior data

We propose a combined revealed and stated behavior estimation method to measure recreation benefits of a fixed quality improvement that directly addresses the issues of variation in environmental quality beyond the observed range and new participation induced by higher quality. We survey a sample of the general population, including non-participants, to obtain stated preference data for trips based on a policy-relevant estuarine quality improvement. Panel recreation demand models that take into account new participants induced by the higher quality are estimated and used to derive total consumer surplus.