Willingness to Accept Higher Than Willingness to Pay for Goods
Willingness to accept (WTA) is usually higher than willingness to pay (WTP) for different types of goods. Studies over 30 years show that the less a good is like a regular market item, the higher the WTA/WTP ratio. Non-market goods have the highest ratio, followed by private goods, and then money-related experiments. Even when survey design differences are considered, ordinary goods have lower ratios than non-ordinary ones. Real and hypothetical experiments show similar ratios, and incentive-compatible methods result in higher ratios.