Comparing willingness-to-pay between residents and non-residents when correcting hypothetical bias: Case of endangered spotted seal in South Korea

Two threads within the contingent valuation literature are potential biases created by the hypothetical nature of the method and defining the population to sample. To our knowledge, this is the first study to combine these threads, namely examining how attempting to control for hypothetical bias interacts with how the population is defined. Results indicate controlling for hypothetical bias makes the two samples, residents of Baengnyeong Island (where the spotted seal is located) and the general South Korea population, more similar than if bias is not corrected. Without correcting for bias, for example, residents' willingness-to-pay for preservation of the seal is 33% higher than the general population; however, after controlling for hypothetical bias this percent decreases to 21%. ► Both hypothetical bias and sample definition effect WTP for environmental goods. ► There appears to be an interaction between hypothetical bias and sample definitions. ► Controlling for hypothetical bias decreased differences between the two samples.