10.2190/71KJ-DMFM-DB65-QH1B 71KJDMFMDB65QH1B 6 Benefits of Quality Changes in Recreational Fishing: A Single-Site Travel cost Approach 357 364 20020509 20020509 20020509 20020509 71KJDMFMDB65QH1B.pdf http://baywood.metapress.com/link.asp?target=contribution&id=71KJDMFMDB65QH1B 4 John C. Whitehead East Carolina University, Greenville This study extends the travel cost literature on valuing quality improvements by measuring the benefits of improved quality in a single-site recreation demand model. Measures of exogenous recreation quality are used instead of the more typically used endogenous measures. Recreation demand for freshwater fishing on the Tar-Pamlico River in North Carolina is specified to depend on access price, income, and expected recreation quality. Variation in expected recreation quality is found from predictions of a catch rate regression model. The number of fishing trips decreases with increases in travel and time costs and increases with increases in recreation quality. Changes in consumer surplus from quality changes are estimated using the individual variation in quality and estimates of recreation benefits. B. A. Forster, Valuing Outdoor Recreational Activity: A Methodological Survey, <i>Journal of Leisure Research, 21</i>, pp. 181-201, 1989. W. J. Vaughan and C. S. Russell, Valuing a Fishing Day: An Application of a Systematic Varying Parameter Model, <i>Land Economics, 58</i>, pp. 450-463, 1982. V. K. Smith and W. H. Desvousges, The Generalized Travel Cost Model and Water Quality Benefits: A Reconsideration, <i>Southern Economic Journal, 52</i>, pp. 371-381, 1985. E. Balkan and J. R. Kahn, The Value of Changes in Deer Hunting Quality: A Travel Cost Approach, <i>Applied Economics, 20</i>, pp. 533-539, 1988. G. Brown, Jr. and R. Mendelsohn, The Hedonic Travel Cost Model, <i>Review of Economics and Statistics, 66</i>, pp. 427-433, 1984. V. K. Smith and Y. Kaoru, The Hedonic Travel Cost Model: A View from the Trenches, <i>Land Economics, 63</i>, pp. 179-192, 1987. V. K. Smith, R. B. Palmquist, and P. Jakus, Combining Farrell Frontier and Hedonic Travel Cost Models for Valuing Estuarine Quality, <i>Review of Economics and Statistics, 74</i>, pp. 694-699, 1991. D. D. Huppert, Measuring the Value of Fish to Anglers: Application to Central California Anadromous Species, <i>Marine Resource Economics, 6</i>, pp. 89-108, 1989. G. S. Maddala, <i>Limited-Dependent and Qualitative Variables in Econometrics</i>, Cambridge University Press, London, 1983. W. H. Greene, <i>Limdep: User's Manual</i>, 1986. N. E. Bockstael and I. E. Strand, Jr., The Effect of Common Sources of Regression Error on Benefit Estimates, <i>Land Economics, 63</i>, pp. 11-20, 1987. J. C. Bergstrom and H. K. Cordell, An Analysis of the Demand for and Value of Outdoor Recreation in the United States, <i>Journal of Leisure Research, 23</i>, pp. 67-86, 1991.