Nonmarket Valuation of Environmental Resources: An Interpretive Appraisal

This paper reviews research on nonmarket valuation. It seeks to gauge whether the methods are up to the tasks demanded of them and to identify new research priorities. The evaluation suggests that we can outline a protocol for implementing and using the methods with some resources, while for other resources our experience is still developing. Because the demands for valuation information are increasing as fast as our understanding of measurement methods is advancing, the next step in development requires defining a systematic "commodity structure" for environmental services with the needs for valuation measures providing conceptual underpinnings.