Dealing with internal inconsistency in double-bounded dichotomous choice: an application to community-based health insurance

Hermann Pythagore Pierre Donfouet (1) , P. Wilner Jeanty (2) , Pierre-Alexandre Mahieu (3)

1 CREM - Centre de recherche en économie et management
2 Kinder Institute for Urban Research & Hobby Center for the Study of Texas
3 LEMNA - Laboratoire d'économie et de management de Nantes Atlantique

Contingent valuation method is commonly used in the field of health economics in an attempt to help policy makers in their policy-making decision process. The use of the double-bounded dichotomous choice format results in a substantial gain in statistical efficiency over the single-bounded dichotomous choice format. Yet, there is internal inconsistency with a downward mean shifting in the second responses. Using data from a community-based health insurance survey, this paper aims at testing whether double certainty calibration reduces internal inconsistency in a double-bounded dichotomous choice contingent valuation survey. Results suggest that double calibration significantly reduces internal inconsistency while maintaining the efficiency gain arising from the double-bounded format.

Mots clés: community-based health insurance; internal inconsistency; double certainty calibration; Contingent valuation

Domaines: Economies et finances

Hermann Pythagore Pierre Donfouet, P. Wilner Jeanty, Pierre-Alexandre Mahieu. Dealing with internal inconsistency in double-bounded dichotomous choice: an application to community-based health insurance. Empirical Economics, 2014, 46 (1), pp.317-328. ⟨10.1007/s00181-012-0665-2⟩. ⟨halshs-00761049⟩