A simple explanation within the theory of indifference curves is offered for the experimental observations concerning the disparity between willingness to pay (WTP) and willingness to accept (WTA). Following Morrison's evidence, this explanation rests largely on the endowment effect. Two demand...

The extraction of energy resources and the preservation of sensitive in-situ environmental assets are invariably mutually exclusive alternatives. The opportunity cost value of preserving the environmental assets can be assessed by recourse to resource rent taxes, and threshold values. The case...

Purpose – Perfect competition (PC), despite its abstract nature, is central to the literature on shadow prices and remains an important benchmark in economic policy analysis. Adding sustainability to the conditions of PC, results in a meaningful benchmark, especially in the context of pursuing...

Economies rich in mineral resources, need to evaluate the merits of investing rents earned from resource extraction in other income generating activities to sustain the flow of income. It is hence important to estimate and assess the potential uses of the resource rent tax (RRT). This paper...

In this paper, the main socio-economic concepts and their applications in the study of soil degradation are reviewed under three broad headings: soil conservation as an input in agricultural production; topsoil as a natural resource somewhere between being renewable and nonrenewable; and the...

The present trend to more quantitative analysis for public decisions on land allocation has included studies based on the opportunity cost criterion. This encouraging trend could be promoted through improved use of the criterion. Two important improvements are the analysis of uncertainty and the...

The paper employs a methodology that enables the elicitation of the price and quantity of environmental capital (KN) at an aggregate macroeconomic level. The stock of KN considered here is confined to the air-shed of an economy that gets utilized in the process of economic growth. A time series...

Purpose – The object of this paper is to demonstrate that the promotion of altruistic behavior can in fact be regarded as an instrument of public policy. Design/methodology/approach – This objective is achieved by adapting the standard theory of consumer behavior in microeconomics to the...

The paper presents a simple method of valuation that can sit beside ideology of a unitary economics, which seeks a synergy between materialistic and non-materialistic aspects of welfare. The non-materialistic item considered here is environmental stewardship, the lack of which is widespread...