ABSTRACT
The museum sector has been the object of increasing interest in the last ten years, as shown in several publications (Jackson, 1988; Frey and Pommerehne, 1989; Feldstein, 1991; Frey, 1994). Many research studies (i.e. Silbeberg, 1995; Verbeke and van Rekom, 1996; Harrison, 1997; Johnson and Thomas, 1998) have focussed on museums' services, acknowledging the importance of the aspects related to public fruition 1 over those mainly targeted to solely fulfil the exhibition purpose. Within this framework, and in tune with the understanding of the social role played by art, museum management issues have been increasingly linked to market dynamics, showing the need to understand public preferences. In fact, financial investments in the museum sector can be better justified when related to improvements in public fruition and in the understanding of the art piece. The contingent valuation method is a survey-based valuation technique that, because of its nature, has the potential to be very participative. People can express their preferences for non-market commodities stating their willingness to pay (WTP) for changes in the provision of the good. In this way, the latent demand curve for the good concerned can be traced. Recent literature shows several examples of applications of the contingent valuation method to cultural goods. A more restricted number of studies focus on the use value of museums. Ashworth and Johnson (1996) analyze the monetary value that individuals attach to the museum visit; Scarpa et al. (1998) elicit the value of access to the Contemporary Art Museum of the Rivoli Castle near Turin, Beltran and Rojas (1996) estimate WTP 202for the fruition and conservation of some archaeological areas in Mexico; and Mazzanti (2001) elicits the WTP for the conservation of the Borghese Gallery Museum in Rome and for the introduction of some new services, e.g. increase in opening hours, multimedia service and non-permanent exhibitions.
