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How common is the prominence effect? Additional evidence to Whynes et al

Covey, J.; Smith, R.D.

Authors

R.D. Smith



Abstract

In a recent issue of Health Economics Letters, Whynes et al. report an observation not previously reported in the willingness-to-pay (WTP) literature; that when people are asked to provide an estimate using payment scales they tend to disproportionately select prominent values (that is, 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, etc.). However, it remains an open question just how common this prominence effect actually is. Here we present data from several additional contingent valuation (CV) studies, which suggest that although prominence occurs, it does not reach statistical significance, as found by Whynes et al. A number of reasons are outlined to explain this.

Citation

Covey, J., & Smith, R. (2006). How common is the prominence effect? Additional evidence to Whynes et al. Health Economics, 15(2), 205-210. https://doi.org/10.1002/hec.1062

Journal Article Type Article
Publication Date 2006-02
Deposit Date Mar 28, 2007
Journal Health Economics
Print ISSN 1057-9230
Electronic ISSN 1099-1050
Publisher Wiley
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 15
Issue 2
Pages 205-210
DOI https://doi.org/10.1002/hec.1062
Keywords CBA, Outcomes, Research, Willingness to pay, Contingent valuation.