An Application of CVM in the Assessment of Non Market Value of Agricultural Land
农地非市场价值条件评估法及其应用

The assessment of agricultural land is always the most difficult issue and the focus of discussion. To quantify non-market value of agricultural land, we must depend on the contingent valuation method (CVM), an implicit method which has been successfully put into practice in west countries for over 40 years since 1963. This paper can be divided into three parts. In the first part, the authors briefly discuss the basic theory and development course of CVM in recent years. In the second part, the authors emphasize on four main issues in the course of assessment. First, do preparation for CVM. Some works must be done in advance. Second, devise the questionnaire of CVM. In this phase try best to avoid information bias, select proper payment vehicles and take correct elicitation vehicle. Third, administer the field research. In this phase three choices should be made: a choice among in-person interview, telephone interview and mail interview; a choice between continuous-response format and discrete-response format, and a choice among iterative bid format, open-ended format and payment card format, or between single-bounded dichotomic choice format and double-bounded dichotomic choice format. Forth, deal with questionnaires. During this period of time, much more attention has been paid to invalid questionnaires, which include unit nonresponse, item nonresponse and protest nonresponse. In this part, some methods of dealing with bias have been discussed. In the last part of this paper, the authors apply CVM to practical assessment of the agricultural land in Hongshan district of Wuhan city, a district with a population of 586 thousand. 560 questionnaires were handed out and all returned. After cutting down 51 invalid questionnaires, we surpass the NOAA's demand on respond ratio with 509 valid questionnaires. Single-bounded dichotomic format and profit model are applied. The final result shows that the value of agricultural land in Hongshan district is (8 503) Yuan per ha, which equals to 567 Yuan per mu. At the end of this paper, the authors analyze some shortcomings in the process of this research and give detailed advices for further discussion.