Option Value, Gallot's Inequality, And The Measurement Of Biological Diversity

Stephen Polasky and Andrew R. Solow
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Andrew R. Solow: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

No 241, Boston College Working Papers in Economics from Boston College Department of Economics

Abstract: To allocate scarce resources to the conservation of biological diversity in an effective way, it is necessary to measure diversity. One argument in favor of species conservation is that species have an option value arising from their potential future use (e.g., in curing a disease). We use a simple model that relates the genetic distance between species to a nonparametric lower bound on option value. This leads to a simple measure that can be used to compare different sets of species. The measure can be interpreted as the effective number of species in the set. An example is given illustrating the use of this measure in comparing different sets of glucosinolate-producing plants.

Date: 1993-12
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:boc:bocoec:241

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