Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 May 2017
This paper compares three recreation valuation techniques—the travel cost (TC), the hedonic travel cost (HTC), and the household production (HP) techniques—on the basis of their theoretical underpinnings, econometric and data considerations, and policy considerations. The major focus is on how these techniques can be used to evaluate the benefits to recreationists of changes in the quality of recreation sites. Bockstael and McConnell's (1981) formulation of the HP model for sport fishing is used in the following discussion. Other variants, such as the model used by Smith et al. (1983), are only briefly mentioned.