Korean Energy Economic Review ISSN:1599-7057(Print) 에너지경제연구

The simple logit model often used for estimating willingness to pay from dichotomous choice contingent valuation (CV), assumes that the respondent's evaluations of the two states are stochastically independent and homoskedastic. Relaxing restrictive assumptions suggests a generalized estimation technique that utilizes a Gumbel mixed model. Nested within this generalized model are the heteroskedastic logit model and the simple logit. The nesting structure allows for straightforward tests of the homoskedastic-independent error assumptions. Estimation results from sample data show that the logistic distribution, at least theoretically, may not be a suitable distribution for the dichotomous choice CV study and that heteroskedasticity or correlation may provide policy implication in benefit-cost analysis different from the simple logit model.