Valuing ecosystem services in general equilibrium

Jared Carbone and V. Smith

No 15844, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: We explore the consequences of treating the multiple, non-market benefits associated with improvements in ecosystem health and the market economy from which damage to these ecosystems stems as an integrated system. We find that willingness to pay measures of use-based ecosystem services are impacted by the changes in demand for complementary market goods. Demand for these goods shifts due to the introduction of pollution regulations that deliver improvements in ecosystem services. As a result, partial equilibrium estimates of these use values may be measured with substantial error if they fail to account for the general equilibrium adjustments caused by the regulation. We also find that the basic physical/biological connections between the resources underlying use and non-use values for ecosystems may have important implications for the measurement of these values.

JEL-codes: D58 H23 Q51 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2010-03
Note: EEE
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

Published as Carbone, J. C. and V. K. Smith. 2013. "Valuing nature in a general equilibrium." Journal of Environmental Economics and Management 66(1):72-89. DOI: 10.1016/j.jeem.2012.12.007.

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