Nonmarket Valuation in the Environmental Protection Agency's Regulatory Process

Abstract This paper reviews the use of nonmarket valuation in environmental policy at the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). We examine trends in the literature over the last forty‐five years and compare those trends to how often nonmarket benefits are monetized and which methods are used in 49 recent EPA Regulatory Impact Analyses. We also review EPA awarded research grants and their focus. We conclude that the nonmarket valuation literature continues to grow but that many nonmarket benefits go unquantified and unmonetized in policy analysis. Policy applications of nonmarket studies are generally limited to a small and dated body of work.