This paper (ENV-126) was originally presented at a National Science Foundation Workshop on Alternatives to Traditional Contingent Valuation Methods in Environmental Valuation, held at Vanderbilt University, Nashville Tennessee, on October 15-16, 1998. This paper reviews the past ten years of the...

This working paper develops upon the idea that economic analysis has a definite role to play in informing decision makers about the desirability of going ahead with an investment project designed to improve environmental quality and also that the role of precision in this matter is not trivial....