{"id":7975,"date":"2009-11-12T23:01:56","date_gmt":"2009-11-13T04:01:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/?p=7975"},"modified":"2009-11-12T23:01:56","modified_gmt":"2009-11-13T04:01:56","slug":"commodifying-environmental-resources","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/2009\/11\/commodifying-environmental-resources\/","title":{"rendered":"Commodifying Environmental Resources"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"grandMany people value certain environmental resources even if they have never actually visited or \u201cused\u201d those resources.\u00a0 For example, a person might assign what economists call \u201cnonuse values\u201d to the Grand Canyon, the Great Barrier Reef, or a particular endangered animal species even if she has never hiked the Canyon, gone scuba diving on the Reef, or personally encountered that endangered species.\u00a0 \u00a0Some scholars have categorized nonuse values into three types: the \u201coption value\u201d is the value a person places on preserving an environmental resource so that she has the option of using it in the future; the \u201cbequest value\u201d is the value the person places on being able to preserve the resource for the enjoyment of future generations; and the \u201cexistence value\u201d is the value the person places on the mere knowledge that the resource exists.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Consensus has proved elusive on whether and how nonuse values should be considered in cost-benefit analysis of new environmental projects or regulations.\u00a0 In economic terms, such valuation will have the positive effect of incentivizing people not to destroy the resource.\u00a0 But economists have struggled to assign actual dollar values suitable for use in such a calculus.\u00a0 One widely used but controversial method called \u201ccontingent valuation\u201d involves the use of surveys to find out what individuals would pay to preserve environmental resources.\u00a0 Survey results are then averaged and generalized across entire populations. \u00a0The design of the survey questions is controversial, and the results are often rigidly contested or even rejected out of hand.\u00a0 One famous CV study estimated the nonuse<\/em> harm of the Exxon Valdez disaster at between\u00a0two and\u00a0eight billion dollars.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Quite apart from the raging debate over the validity of contingent valuation, other scholars are waging a separate struggle over whether it is harmful for society to \u201ccommodify\u201d or \u201ccommoditize\u201d certain things.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

Some have argued that environmental resources should not be commoditized because they are nonfungible \u2013 or, to extend the argument a bit, that those who assign dollars to nonuse values are improperly comparing apples to oranges.\u00a0 They argue that the harm of commoditization is not easily quantifiable or verifiable; it is intrinsic, or even has a moral character.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Most environmentalists would probably argue that nonuse values should be considered in cost-benefit analyses, but they might also believe that commoditization is an intrinsic environmental harm.\u00a0 Thus, in my view, an unaddressed tension exists between appropriate consideration of environmental nonuse values, and unhealthy commoditization of those same features.\u00a0 This tension, I believe, cannot easily be resolved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Many people value certain environmental resources even if they have never actually visited or \u201cused\u201d those resources.\u00a0 For example, a person might assign what economists call \u201cnonuse values\u201d to the Grand Canyon, the Great Barrier Reef, or a particular endangered animal species even if she has never hiked the Canyon, gone scuba diving on the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":70,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ocean_post_layout":"","ocean_both_sidebars_style":"","ocean_both_sidebars_content_width":0,"ocean_both_sidebars_sidebars_width":0,"ocean_sidebar":"","ocean_second_sidebar":"","ocean_disable_margins":"enable","ocean_add_body_class":"","ocean_shortcode_before_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_after_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_before_header":"","ocean_shortcode_after_header":"","ocean_has_shortcode":"","ocean_shortcode_after_title":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_bottom":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_bottom":"","ocean_display_top_bar":"default","ocean_display_header":"default","ocean_header_style":"","ocean_center_header_left_menu":"","ocean_custom_header_template":"","ocean_custom_logo":0,"ocean_custom_retina_logo":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_height":0,"ocean_header_custom_menu":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_family":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_subset":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_size":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_unit":"px","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_line_height":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_unit":"","ocean_menu_typo_spacing":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_unit":"","ocean_menu_link_color":"","ocean_menu_link_color_hover":"","ocean_menu_link_color_active":"","ocean_menu_link_background":"","ocean_menu_link_hover_background":"","ocean_menu_link_active_background":"","ocean_menu_social_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_links_color":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_color":"","ocean_disable_title":"default","ocean_disable_heading":"default","ocean_post_title":"","ocean_post_subheading":"","ocean_post_title_style":"","ocean_post_title_background_color":"","ocean_post_title_background":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_image_position":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_attachment":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_repeat":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_size":"","ocean_post_title_height":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay":0.5,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay_color":"","ocean_disable_breadcrumbs":"default","ocean_breadcrumbs_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_separator_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_hover_color":"","ocean_display_footer_widgets":"default","ocean_display_footer_bottom":"default","ocean_custom_footer_template":"","ocean_post_oembed":"","ocean_post_self_hosted_media":"","ocean_post_video_embed":"","ocean_link_format":"","ocean_link_format_target":"self","ocean_quote_format":"","ocean_quote_format_link":"post","ocean_gallery_link_images":"on","ocean_gallery_id":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7975","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-environmental-law","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7975","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/70"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7975"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7975\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7975"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7975"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7975"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}