Abstract

Recent developments in environmental law have heightened the importance of the concept of "existence value" -- the value that individuals gain simply from the knowledge that certain environmental resources exist. These values are non-use values, hence they are said to be in the nature of a public good and will tend to be underprotected by the market. Because there is no market for such values, some lawyers, economists, and policy-makers have proposed the use of "contingent valuation" studies to ascertain a value for these amenities. Contingent valuation studies ask respondents to state how much they would pay to preserve the environmental amenity in question.