Estimating the marginal willingness to pay function without instrumental variables

The hedonic model of Rosen (1974) has become a workhorse for valuing the characteristics of differentiated products despite a number of well-documented econometric problems, including a source of endogeneity that has proven difficult to overcome. Here we outline a simple, likelihood-based estimation approach for recovering the marginal willingness-to-pay function that avoids this endogeneity problem. Using this framework, we find that marginal willingness-to-pay to avoid violent crime increases by sixteen cents with each additional incident per 100,000 residents. Accounting for the slope of the marginal willingness-to-pay function has significant impacts on welfare analyses.