The Effect of Response Time on Conjoint Analysis Estimates of Rainforest Protection Values Available to Purchase

This paper reports the first estimates of willingness to pay (WTP) for rain forest protection in the threatened Atlantic Coastal Forest ecosystem in northeastern Brazil. Conjoint analysis data were collected from Brazilian tourists for recreation bundles with complex prices. An ordered probit model with timevarying parameters and heteroskedastic errors was estimated. The main empirical results showed that: (1) utility parameters vary systematically with response time, (2) respondents use different anchors and scales in rating attribute differences, (3) mean WTP estimates for nature park attributes converge to stable values as response time increases, and (4) private forests provide public benefits to Brazilians.