Perceptions of fundamental science: Evidence from a classroom experiment

Large-scale research infrastructures such as particle colliders, radio telescopes, the International Space Station, areoften funded through general taxation and taxpayers are called to contribute to scientific discovery. How muchare people actually willing to pay for investments in science? What does drive such a giving behaviour? This paperexplores the attitudes of young science-outsiders (the taxpayers of tomorrow) by a pilot experiment involving 230undergraduate students in economics at University of Milan. The experiment takes the form of a ContingentValuation Referendum-like interview aimed at eliciting the willingness-to-pay (WTP) for the discovery potentialof the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the most powerful particle accelerator worldwide. Our results point tothe attitudes of students about fundamental science measured through their WTP. Building on this pilot experi-ment, we put forward recommendations for future research.