Valuing Environmental Benefits

Valuing Environmental Benefits brings together Maureen Cropper’s work on methods for valuing environmental benefits, especially health benefits, as well as analyses of the benefits implicitly attached to human health and ecosystems by environmental regulations.

Beginning with a survey of the field of environmental economics (written with Wallace E. Oates), the book includes papers on valuing health benefits, valuing environmental amenities, and the political economy of environmental regulation. The author’s analyses of mortality benefits include both theoretical work and empirical studies of the value citizens attach to life saving programs. Studies of morbidity benefits include previously unpublished work on the value of preventing chronic heart and lung disease. Section two of the book focuses on the use of hedonic methods for valuing urban amenities. The book concludes with statistical analyses of factors influencing US environmental regulations in the areas of pesticide control, toxic substances and superfund cleanups.