Resources valuation

Bishop, R.C., and Romano, D. (eds.), 1998, Environmental Resource Valuation Applications of the Contingent Valuation in Italy, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Boston. 

B. Sreen, EPS—Default Valuation of Environmental Impacts from Flmission and Use of Resources, Version 1996, Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, APR, Report 111, April 1996. 

Basically, economic valuation is performed by two different main methods. You either observe indirect statements of economic value = Reveal preferences. Or you ask individuals for their economic value = State preferences. One important aspect to have in mind is that valuation is performed to identify demand for resources and services for which there is no functioning market [18]. 

Also, and this is a fairly economic discussion, one can be concerned with most valuation studies usually using income as the budget constraint. The income is a flow value while this flow is sometimes compared to stock values (i.e. natural resources). If the income were compared with the growth in stock, then this objection turns invalid. 

Nevertheless, economic valuation is still the best available option when trying to allocate resources to protect the environment or human health. Why ... 

As previously mentioned, the actual acquisition cost of a drug or service should not be used in isolation to determine the value of a drug. Value should be assessed in an analysis that takes into account all consequences (both positive and negative) that result from use of the therapy. For example, if a therapy eliminates the need for surgery, the cost of the surgery would be eliminated from the overall treatment pathway. However, if the same therapy results in an adverse event that requires specific laboratory monitoring, the cost of the laboratory tests would be added into the treatment pathway. The accurate identification and valuation of resource items that result from the use of that therapy are extremely important components of economic analysis. 

Questions five and six address the actual identification, quantification and valuation of resources and costs. Resources previously identified as being relevant to the analysis have to be collected, measured and reported in appropriate units. For example, if blood tests are determined to be a resource that is important to the analysis, the actual number of each specific test performed must be recorded (e.g. five CBCs). Because of differing treatment regimens across regions or countries, it is extremely important that there is full disclosure of each resource identified, along with the frequency of use. Such resource dictionaries allow the person critically evaluating the analysis to determine whether the treatment patterns in the analysis accurately reflect treatment patterns in their area. In addition, the unit cost/price for each resource should be provided, along with the source of each value. The provision of unit prices/costs allows the reader to determine whether the relative costs shown in the analysis are similar to those foimd in his or her area. 

In summary, in a critical assessment of an economic analysis, careful attention should be paid to the choice of analytical technique, the relevance of the comparator and the identification, measurement and valuation of resources, ensuring that the latter components are relevant to the stated viewpoint of the analysis. Published checklists are useful tools that aid in the assessment of these analyses. 

Valuation of Ecological Resources Integration of Ecology and Socioeconomics in Environmental Decision Making Stahl, Kapustka, Munns, Brains, editors 2007... 

R. Mitchell and R. Carson, Using Surveys to Value Public Goods The Contingent Valuation Method, Resources for the Future, Washington, DC, 1989. 

The underlying premise of pharmacoeconomic analyses is that fiscal resources are scarce and that there is a need to make decisions based on the relative value of different interventions in creating better health and/or longer life. There are five main analytical techniques used to evaluate the incremental value of products. These are cost-consequence analysis (CCA) cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA) cost-benefit analysis (CBA) cost-minimisation analysis (CMA) and cost-utility analysis (CUA). Although the identification and valuation of the cost component (numerator) of these analyses are similar, it is the identification and valuation of the consequences (denominator) that truly differentiate these analytic techniques. A brief description of each of these techniques follows. 

The value of EF as indicator also for chemical production lies in the explicit indication that the ecosystem has a value equivalent to its ecological yield valued as it would be on commodity markets for the value of water, wood, fish or game that is purified or nurseried or generated or harbored in that ecosystem. Thus, a price can be put on the natural capital of an ecosystem based on the price of natural resources it yields each year. Therefore, EF provides the basis to estimate the ecological cost of production of a chemical that should be added to the industrial cost to develop an intrinsic cost that considers not only the product itself but also how it is produced. In Chapter 1 the need for a new model of global economy, which includes sustainability and ecosystem valuation in the value of goods, has already been discussed. 

As already described, groundwater represents a stock resource for drinking water, and all the other uses which require certain minimum quality standards to be met, as well as being relevant to various non-use values. The valuation issue, however, is entirely subjective there is no right answer and therefore the scenario and valuation question, while needing to be informative, should not seek to influence how people think about the resource. Likewise, the offer to change the quantity/ quality of its availability must be both politically/institutionally neutral and credible. The handling of this dimension is described in the next section. 

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