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Consumer Surplus with Apology: A Historical Perspective on Nonmarket Valuation and Recreation Demand

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  • H. Spencer Banzhaf

    (Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Department of Economics, Georgia State University, Atlanta, Georgia 30302
    National Bureau of Economic Research, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138)

Abstract

When economists first turned to applied benefit-cost analysis in the 1930s and 1940s, prices were the only widely accepted measure of benefits. Perhaps surprisingly, economists did not consider measures like consumer surplus, which seemed quite foreign. Consequently, when they turned to nonmarket valuation for goods like outdoor recreation, their constructed demand curves seemed less informative than a simple equilibrium price. As they struggled with how to make use of such information, natural resource economists set important precedents for the larger profession in coming to consumer surplus as a new measure of benefits. By creating important precedents and learning through practice, they shaped the discipline as much as they were shaped by received theory. At the same time, by coming to these notions in the context of political debates, they were also shaped by the norms of the state.

Suggested Citation

  • H. Spencer Banzhaf, 2010. "Consumer Surplus with Apology: A Historical Perspective on Nonmarket Valuation and Recreation Demand," Annual Review of Resource Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 2(1), pages 183-207, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:anr:reseco:v:2:y:2010:p:183-207
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    File URL: http://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev.resource.012809.103936
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Gohar, Abdelaziz A. & Cashman, Adrian, 2016. "A methodology to assess the impact of climate variability and change on water resources, food security and economic welfare," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 147(C), pages 51-64.
    2. Soroush Kiani Ghalehsard & Javad Shahraki & Ahmad Akbari & Ali Sardar Shahraki, 2021. "Assessment of the impacts of climate change and variability on water resources and use, food security, and economic welfare in Iran," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 23(10), pages 14666-14682, October.
    3. Richardson, Leslie, 2022. "The Economic Benefits of Wildlife: The Case of Brown Bears in Alaska," Western Economics Forum, Western Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 20(1), May.
    4. H. Spencer Banzhaf, 2014. "Retrospectives: The Cold-War Origins of the Value of Statistical Life," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 28(4), pages 213-226, Fall.
    5. Berta, Nathalie, 2020. "Efficiency without Optimality: A Pragmatic Compromise for Environmental Policies in the Late 1960s," OSF Preprints wp2xf, Center for Open Science.
    6. Ronald C. Griffin, 2012. "The Origins and Ideals of Water Resource Economics in the United States," Annual Review of Resource Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 4(1), pages 353-377, August.
    7. Melstrom, Richard & Reeling, Carson, 2023. "Using aggregate trip data to value recreation sites: A comparison with individual-level methods," 2023 Annual Meeting, July 23-25, Washington D.C. 335687, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    8. Stephen Newbold & R. David Simpson & D. Matthew Massey & Matthew T. Heberling & William Wheeler & Joel Corona & Julie Hewitt, 2018. "Benefit Transfer Challenges: Perspectives from U.S. Practitioners," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 69(3), pages 467-481, March.
    9. Marit Kragt, 2013. "The Effects of Changing Cost Vectors on Choices and Scale Heterogeneity," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 54(2), pages 201-221, February.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    benefit-cost analysis; history of economic thought; outdoor recreation; welfare economics;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D61 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Allocative Efficiency; Cost-Benefit Analysis
    • Q26 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Renewable Resources and Conservation - - - Recreational Aspects of Natural Resources

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