What is the benefit from obtaining more precise values of environmental or other public goods through surveys or other information gathering? In the value of information (VOI) problem studied here, a buyer who wishes to preserve a resource sets a price to offer a seller without knowing precisely its protection value, B, nor its value to the seller, V. The VOI from more precise information about B is important for environmental and natural resource valuation, but is typically not quantified nor compared to valuation costs. More precise environmental values reduce the frequency of two types of mistakes (protecting the resource when it should not be; and not protecting it when it should), and increases ex ante welfare. We apply our analysis to Amazon rainforest protection, focusing on the “value of perfect information,” VOPI, which, we show through simulations, typically exceeds realistic valuation costs, justifying significant valuation expenditures. VOPI also depends on the nature of buyer–seller interactions, and takes its highest value when the buyer has full concern for the seller’s outcome. Our paper proposes and prepares the base for a new, needed, field in applied welfare economics, the “benefit–cost analysis of public-good valuation studies.”

To guide investments in ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA) in developing countries, numerous stated preference valuation studies have been implemented to assess the value of ecosystem services. These studies increasingly use time payments as an alternative to money. There is limited knowledge, however, about how to convert time to money and how the type of payment affects willingness to pay (WTP). In this study, the results of choice experiments using time and money payments are compared in the context of EbA measures in Vietnam. Six, of which five individual-specific, conversion rates are applied. WTP estimates are found to be higher for time payments. Moreover, the type of payment vehicle as well as the conversion rate has substantial effect on mean WTP and WTP distributions. We discuss implications of these results for the conversion of time to money and the use of resulting WTP estimates in cost benefit analyses in developing countries.

Using islands as a model system, this paper seeks to understand how ecosystem service valuation (ESV) has and can move from a monetized, single-service paradigm to an integrated valuation paradigm, a participatory approach that represents a more diverse set of the values of nature, and beyond, to a more fully realized conception of the island social–ecological systems. A systematic literature review of 314 island ESV studies reveals developments in the design, implementation and adoption of ESV studies over time. We complement the review with three cases where this evolution is happening, thereby offering insights into successful means of translating ESV into information useful for island system-scale management, policy design and planning. Over the past 30 years, both the number of studies and the number of services addressed per study have steadily grown, and valuation methods have become more inclusive of multiple values. The cases reveal lessons for ESV practice. Insights are that ESV should increasingly: (i) recognize strong interconnections between ecosystems and between human and environmental systems; (ii) move towards more integrated valuation methods that better capture the diverse values of nature; and (iii) be based on an iterative process where knowledge and decision-support tools are co-created with decision-makers and stakeholders.

This paper presents an evaluation of the use of environmental valuation – techniques to assign monetary values to environmental impacts of policies and projects, especially nonmarket impacts – in U.K. policy. In doing so, we seek to contribute to the debate, more generally, of the use and influence of benefit-cost analysis (BCA) in national policy processes such as Impact Assessment. Specifically, our contribution in this paper is two-fold. First, we identify a number of trends that have characterized U.K. policy use of environmental valuation over the past two or so decades. While this has notably involved development of “sharable values” allowing more widespread uptake, it also seems that different branches of government have developed different traditions of use adding nuance to what, on the face of it, is otherwise a shared endeavor. Second, we evaluate the extent to which the use of environmental valuation can be said to have influenced policy decisions and the degree to which this is embedded by evolving policy processes. As such, we discuss two areas of environmental policy – water quality improvements and natural capital – which have entailed either substantial use of environmental valuation either in determining specific policy and investment project options or where this has helped shape the broader policy agenda. Our evaluation is not exhaustive; nor do our findings suggest that environmental valuation and BCA are necessarily the dominant driver of decisions, as we discuss. However, in recognizing this, we argue it is also important to consider a number of established or evolving cultural and legal institutional processes which broadly appear to support our assessment of such cases.

Hedonic prices are estimated for summer and winter rentals for vacation houses located near a lake and ski-golf resort in rural western Maryland. Regressions for weekly rents are conditioned on house size, quality, and recreation features including lakefront proximity and ski-slope access. Percentage effects and marginal implicit prices indicate that access to recreation is reflected importantly in rental offers. Evaluated at the means, lakefront locations command a premium of $1,100–1,200 per week, and the premium for ski-slope access is $500–600 per week. Unit recreation values are about $18 per person per day for a lakefront location with a private dock and $7 per person per day for a ski-slope location. There are small differences in the unit values for three real estate management agencies. Although there is evidence of spatial correlation in ordinary least squares residuals, estimation of spatial-lag and spatial-error models does not yield substantial changes in the empirical results.

This study estimates the contribution of both urban-rural fringe location and lake proximity on residential property values in three upstate counties of South Carolina through estimation of spatial hedonic housing price models. Location in the urban fringe and the urban–rural interface are found to have a positive impact on residential housing values relative to either urban or more rural locations. Lakes in the upstate contribute positively to housing values to the extent that the house has a view of a lake, lake access, or lake frontage.

Genetic improvement of livestock is a particularly effective technology, producing permanent and cumulative changes in performance. This paper highlights some of the options for including mitigation in livestock breeding schemes, focusing on ruminant species, and details three routes through which genetic improvement can help to reduce emissions per kg product via: (i) improving productivity and efficiency, (ii) reducing wastage in the farming system and (iii) directly selecting on emissions, if or when these are measurable. Selecting on traits that improve the efficiency of the system (e.g. residual feed intake, longevity) will have a favourable effect on the overall emissions from the system. Specific examples of how genetic selection will have a favourable effect on emissions for UK dairy systems are described. The development of breeding schemes that incorporate environmental concerns is both desirable and possible. An example of how economic valuation of public good outcomes can be incorporated into UK dairy selection indices is given. This paper focuses on genetic selection tools using, on the whole, currently available traits and tools. However, new direct and indirect measurement techniques for emissions will improve the potential to reduce emissions by genetic selection. The complexities of global forces on defining selection objectives are also highlighted.