Choices without Prices without Apologies

Abstract

Valuing is usually regarded as a process of compressing information about attributes into a single metric. Armed with this reduced form of compact information, the consumer can consider a particular object, with a particular price attached (or implied), and make an "informed" decision. But the process of valuing is less straightforward than we ordinarily suppose. When environmental goods and services become the object of information compaction, it is possible that important information is lost. We comment on the choice problem germane to environmental goods and services and challenge the presumption that environmental choices made without explicit pricing are inferior to those in which hypothetical valuation studies are undertaken.