A Finite Mixture Logit Model of Recreational Angling with Serially Correlated Random Utility

This article examines two issues concerning the trip-taking behavior of recreational anglers over the course of a season. The first is whether the random component of trip utility is serially correlated across trip occasions. The second is the heterogeneity of preferences among anglers. Recent research has examined heterogeneity among recreational trip-takers using random parameters models. In this article, the population of anglers is, instead, cast as a collection of several subpopulations distinguished by angler preferences, and the method of finite mixtures is used to identify these subpopulations.