This article analyzes the impact of multilevel governance (characterized by the joint production of public goods by several government level types) on the use of the Contingent Valuation Method (CVM). We discuss several compelling reasons for adapting the CVM—which was conceived for a single‐level governance system—as a tool to assist public decision making where multiple levels of government are involved. We argue such adaptation of the CVM promises to allow various public decision makers to discuss the relevance of jointly producing public good, from a shared basis. However, this transferred application of the CVM also illuminates some important difficulties, due to the intrinsic complexity of the method, the highly unequal levels of expertise of actors, and the reservations that it can provoke among some of the latter. The study identifies the key opportunities and problems associated with applying the CVM to subnational education policy evaluation in two territories in Normandy, France.
Related Articles
Related Media
CIRIEC (International Centre of Research and Information on the Public, Social and Cooperative Economy). 2017. http://www.ciriec.ulg.ac.be/en/ and http://www.ciriec.ulg.ac.be/en/publications/