The Measurement of Environmental and Resource Values: Theory and Methods

Abstract

The premise of this award-winning book is that estimates of the economic values of environmental and natural resource services are essential tools for effective policymaking. Freeman presents a comprehensive, rigorous treatment of benefit measurement, providing an introduction to the principal methods and techniques of resource and environmental valuation for professional economists and graduate students who are not directly engaged in the field. Features of the new edition include a reworking of the chapter on stated preference methods of valuation and new sections on topics in the valuation of effects on human health, the valuation of ecosystem functions and services, and benefits transfer. It targets several of the important advances since 1993 and integrates them within the basic framework of the first edition. Rick Freeman maintains the accessibility of the first edition while enhancing its relevance to current practice. Scholars and policymakers will welcome the work as an up-to-date reference on recent developments. Students and general readers will gain a better understanding of the contribution that economics as a discipline can make to decisions about pollution control and human health, the recreational use of rivers and forests, urban amenities, and other critical issues concerning the way we use and interact with environmental and natural resource systems.