Management of non-wood values in state forests: should the user pay?

Summary

This paper briefly surveys the main techniques for valuing non-market items which have been developed by economists and compares these with political methods. It argues that, whatever their limitations, economic techniques are far more accurate than the valuation of non-market items via the political process, so that to rely solely on the latter without attempting the former is to invite both damaging conflict and resource misallocations.