betalingsvilligheten

Betalingsvilligheten, or willingness to pay (WTP), is the maximum amount an individual is prepared to pay to obtain a good or service or to secure an improvement or avoidance of a loss. In welfare economics and cost-benefit analysis, WTP translates benefits of non-market goods—such as environmental quality, public safety, or cultural heritage—into monetary terms to support policy decisions.

WTP can be estimated via revealed preference methods, which infer value from actual choices, or via stated preference methods, typically through surveys. Revealed methods include travel cost and hedonic pricing. Stated methods include contingent valuation and conjoint analysis, often used to capture non-use values like existence value or bequest value.

Applications include assessing environmental and public goods policies, health interventions, and risk management. WTP provides a monetary measure of benefits to compare with costs in cost-benefit analyses, informing decisions about regulation, subsidies, and public investment.

Limitations include biases in survey responses (hypothetical bias, strategic behavior, embedding) and dependence on income and risk preferences. WTP may diverge from actual payments and can be influenced by framing and uncertainty. It is related to, but distinct from, willingness to accept (WTA), which is the minimum amount a person would require to accept a loss or forgoing a benefit.