Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Figures
- List of Tables
- List of Appendices
- List of Contributors
- Preface
- Chapter 1 Introduction
- Chapter 2 Environmental Valuation: A Review of Methods
- Chapter 3 Valuing the Environment as a Production Input
- Chapter 4 Should Shrimp Farmers Pay Paddy Farmers?: The Challenges of Examining Salinization Externalities in South India
- Chapter 5 Evaluating Gains from De-Eutrophication of the Dutch Canal in Sri Lanka
- Chapter 6 Pesticide Productivity and Vegetable Farming in Nepal
- Chapter 7 Forests, Hydrological Services, and Agricultural Income: A Case Study from the Western Ghats of India
- Chapter 8 Can Mangroves Minimize Property Loss during Big Storms?: An Analysis of House Damages due to the Super Cyclone in Orissa
- Chapter 9 Valuation of Recreational Amenities from Environmental Resources: The Case of Two National Parks in Northern Pakistan
- Chapter 10 Valuing the Land of Tigers: What Indian Visitors Reveal
- Chapter 11 Estimating Welfare Losses from Urban Air Pollution using Panel Data from Household Health Diaries
- Chapter 12 Children in the Slums of Dhaka: Diarrhoea Prevalence and its Implications
- Chapter 13 Red Wells, Green Wells and the Costs of Arsenic Contamination in Bangladesh
- Chapter 14 Air Quality and Cement Production: Examining the Implications of Point Source Pollution in Sri Lanka
- Chapter 15 Revisiting the Need for Improved Stoves: Estimating Health, Time and Carbon Benefits
- Chapter 16 Benefits from Reduced Air Pollution in Delhi and Kolkata: A Hedonic Property Price Approach
- Chapter 17 The Value of Statistical Life
- Chapter 18 An Assessment of Demand for Improved Household Water Supply in Southwest Sri Lanka
- Index
Chapter 2 - Environmental Valuation: A Review of Methods
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 November 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Figures
- List of Tables
- List of Appendices
- List of Contributors
- Preface
- Chapter 1 Introduction
- Chapter 2 Environmental Valuation: A Review of Methods
- Chapter 3 Valuing the Environment as a Production Input
- Chapter 4 Should Shrimp Farmers Pay Paddy Farmers?: The Challenges of Examining Salinization Externalities in South India
- Chapter 5 Evaluating Gains from De-Eutrophication of the Dutch Canal in Sri Lanka
- Chapter 6 Pesticide Productivity and Vegetable Farming in Nepal
- Chapter 7 Forests, Hydrological Services, and Agricultural Income: A Case Study from the Western Ghats of India
- Chapter 8 Can Mangroves Minimize Property Loss during Big Storms?: An Analysis of House Damages due to the Super Cyclone in Orissa
- Chapter 9 Valuation of Recreational Amenities from Environmental Resources: The Case of Two National Parks in Northern Pakistan
- Chapter 10 Valuing the Land of Tigers: What Indian Visitors Reveal
- Chapter 11 Estimating Welfare Losses from Urban Air Pollution using Panel Data from Household Health Diaries
- Chapter 12 Children in the Slums of Dhaka: Diarrhoea Prevalence and its Implications
- Chapter 13 Red Wells, Green Wells and the Costs of Arsenic Contamination in Bangladesh
- Chapter 14 Air Quality and Cement Production: Examining the Implications of Point Source Pollution in Sri Lanka
- Chapter 15 Revisiting the Need for Improved Stoves: Estimating Health, Time and Carbon Benefits
- Chapter 16 Benefits from Reduced Air Pollution in Delhi and Kolkata: A Hedonic Property Price Approach
- Chapter 17 The Value of Statistical Life
- Chapter 18 An Assessment of Demand for Improved Household Water Supply in Southwest Sri Lanka
- Index
Summary
Environmental resources and economic valuation
Environmental resources provide a number of benefits that allow us to live on and enjoy this earth. As identified by Freeman (2003), these flows can generally be classified into:
(a) Inputs into production process whether it is the use of oil to run all forms of economic activity, or top soil for agriculture, or life support services provided by water, the atmosphere etc.;
(b) waste absorption services in terms of the ability of the earth and the living atmosphere to mitigate pollution; and
(c) amenity services and non-use benefits that allow us to appreciate the world that we live in.
While the services provided by the environment are immensely valuable, as economists, our interest is in valuing incremental changes in the flow of these services. Every day, we make choices that change the flow of environmental resources. Unfortunately, since we live in a world characterized by scarcity, there are always trade-offs to be made between the uses of different resources. These decisions will be flawed if they are not based on an understanding of the relative value of these resources.
In general, economic activity is based on numerous decisions about goods and services that are bought and sold in markets, which assign value to these goods through market equilibrium prices. Prices also signal scarcity, allowing limited resources to be efficiently used. This is true for many regularly traded goods such as tables and chairs as well as natural resources such as iron and gold.
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- Information
- Environmental Valuation in South Asia , pp. 19 - 35Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2011