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Are there environmental limits to cost benefit analysis?

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Author Info
Nick Hanley

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Abstract

This paper considers the problem areas found in applying cost-benefit analysis (CBA) to projects involving environmental costs or benefits. This is particularly relevant given recent moves by the UK government to include environmental valuations in CBA exercises, and in other related appraisal activities, following the publication of the Pearce Report. The paper argues that a major problem lies in placing monetary values on non-market goods. The paper also addresses the problems of (i) differences between citizen and consumer values; (ii) complexity of ecosystems; (iii) irreversibility and uniqueness; and (iv) intergenerational equity and discounting. The extent to which CBA is an institution open to capture is also discussed. Copyright Kluwer Academic Publishers 1992

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File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/BF00324688
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Publisher Info
Article provided by European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists in its journal Environmental and Resource Economics.

Volume (Year): 2 (1992)
Issue (Month): 1 (January)
Pages: 33-59
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Handle: RePEc:kap:enreec:v:2:y:1992:i:1:p:33-59

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Related research
Keywords: Cost-benefit analysis; environmental valuation; discount rate; sustainable development;

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References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Hartwick, John M, 1977. "Intergenerational Equity and the Investing of Rents from Exhaustible Resources," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 67(5), pages 972-74, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  2. Kling, Catherine L., 1988. "Comparing welfare estimates of environmental quality changes from recreation demand models," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 15(3), pages 331-340, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Seip, K. & Strand, J., 1990. "Willingness To Pay For Environmental Goods In Norway: A Contingent Valuation Study With Real Payment," Memorandum 12/1990, Oslo University, Department of Economics.
  4. Solow, Robert M, 1974. "The Economics of Resources or the Resources of Economics," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 64(2), pages 1-14, May.
  5. Marvin Duncan & Ann Laing, 1980. "Western water resources: coming problems and the policy alternatives," Economic Review, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, issue Feb, pages 14-22. [Downloadable!]
  6. Nelson, Robert H, 1987. "The Economics Profession and the Making of Public Policy," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 25(1), pages 49-91, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. John C. Harsanyi, 1955. "Cardinal Welfare, Individualistic Ethics, and Interpersonal Comparisons of Utility," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 63, pages 309. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. Hanley, Nicholas, 1988. "Using Contingent Valuation to Value Environmental Improvements," Applied Economics, Taylor and Francis Journals, vol. 20(4), pages 541-49, April.
  9. Alistair Munro & Nick Hanley, 1991. "Shadow Projects and the Stock of Natural Capital: A Cautionary Note," Working Papers Series 91/8, University of Stirling, Department of Economics.
  10. Norgaard, Richard B., 1989. "The case for methodological pluralism," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 1(1), pages 37-57, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  11. Lind, Robert C., 1990. "Reassessing the government's discount rate policy in light of new theory and data in a world economy with a high degree of capital mobility," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 18(2), pages S8-S28, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  12. Brown, S. P. A., 1983. "A note on environmental risk and the rate of discount," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 10(3), pages 282-286, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  13. Nick Hanley & Alistair Munro, 1991. "Design Bias in Contingent Valuation Studies: The Impact of Information," Working Papers Series 91/13, University of Stirling, Department of Economics.
  14. Olson, Mancur & Bailey, Martin J, 1981. "Positive Time Preference," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 89(1), pages 1-25, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  15. Prince, Raymond, 1985. "A note on environmental risk and the rate of discount: Comment," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 12(2), pages 179-180, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  16. Arrow, Kenneth J & Lind, Robert C, 1970. "Uncertainty and the Evaluation of Public Investment Decisions," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 60(3), pages 364-78, June.
  17. Brookshire, David S, et al, 1982. "Valuing Public Goods: A Comparison of Survey and Hedonic Approaches," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 72(1), pages 165-77, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  18. Costanza, Robert, 1989. "What is ecological economics?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 1(1), pages 1-7, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  19. Bartik, Timothy J., 1988. "Evaluating the benefits of non-marginal reductions in pollution using information on defensive expenditures," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 15(1), pages 111-127, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  20. Knetsch, Jack L., 1990. "Environmental policy implications of disparities between willingness to pay and compensation demanded measures of values," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 18(3), pages 227-237, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
Full references

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(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Strijker, D. & Sijtsma, F.J. & Bettels, K., 2000. "Evaluating Nature Conservation: The Case of Meadow Birds in The Netherlands," Agricultural Economics Review, Greek Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 1(2), August. [Downloadable!]
  2. Thomas Sterner, 1994. "Discounting in a world of limited growth," Environmental & Resource Economics, European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 4(5), pages 527-534, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Nick Hanley & Clive Spash & Lorna Walker, 1995. "Problems in valuing the benefits of biodiversity protection," Environmental & Resource Economics, European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 5(3), pages 249-272, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  4. STÅLE Navrud & GERALD Pruckner, 1997. "Environmental Valuation – To Use or Not to Use? A Comparative Study of the United States and Europe," Environmental & Resource Economics, European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 10(1), pages 1-26, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Martin Luckert & Wiktor Adamowicz, 1993. "Empirical measures of factors affecting social rates of discount," Environmental & Resource Economics, European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 3(1), pages 1-21, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Richard Howarth & Richard Norgaard, 1993. "Intergenerational transfers and the social discount rate," Environmental & Resource Economics, European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 3(4), pages 337-358, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. D. Strijker & F. Sijtsma & D. Wiersma, 2000. "Evaluation of Nature Conservation," Environmental & Resource Economics, European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 16(4), pages 363-378, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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