Social consensus, moral intensity and willingness to pay to address a farm animal welfare issue

Bennett, R. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3226-8370 and Blaney, R. J. P. (2002) Social consensus, moral intensity and willingness to pay to address a farm animal welfare issue. Journal of Economic Psychology, 23 (4). pp. 501-520. ISSN 0167-4870 doi: 10.1016/S0167-4870(02)00098-3

Abstract/Summary

An experimental contingent valuation (CV) survey of university students was undertaken to explore the impact of social consensus information on people's stated willingness to pay (wtp) to address a farm animal welfare issue. The survey found that additional information presented to respondents on social consensus concerning the moral dimensions of the issue led to a greater perception of social consensus by respondents. This greater perception of social consensus appeared to result in a higher level of moral intensity associated with the issue and a higher stated wtp by respondents for policy to address the issue. However, as for many CV studies of public goods, a question remains as to whether the estimated wtp is a true measure of people's preferences and relative values or merely a measure of attitudes on an arbitrary monetary scale.