Valuing Ecosystem Services

Geoffrey Heal

Working Papers from Columbia - Graduate School of Business

Abstract: The value of the services provided top human societies by natural ecosystems and biogeochemical cycles has recently been the topic of discussion and research. Here I review some of the basic economic principles necessary for understanding some of the questions that arise in this area. I argue that even with the best possible data and scientific understanding, the sense in which economists can value nature's services is limited. I also argue that valuing these services is much less important than providing incentives for their conservation, and that valuation and providing incentives for conservation are quite different. Valuation is neither necessary nor sufficient for conservation, whereas providing the right incentives is.

Keywords: SOCIAL WELFARE; ENVIRONMENT; NATURAL RESOURCES (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D60 Q20 Q30 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 10 pages
Date: 1999
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
Journal Article: Valuing Ecosystem Services (2006)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:fth:colubu:98-12

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Working Papers from Columbia - Graduate School of Business U.S.A.; COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, GRADUATE SCHOOL OF BUSINESS, PAINE WEBBER , New York, NY 10027 U.S.A. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Thomas Krichel ().