Benefit Cost Analysis and Public Decisions Concerning Natural Resources and Environment: A Study in Ethics and Values

一位自然资源和环境经济学家和一位专门研究社会政治伦理学和经济学哲学的哲学家将研究在作出关于自然和环境资源的公共决策时使用效益成本分析(BCA)的伦理和价值影响。使用标准的经济理论和哲学方法，调查人员将(1)确定和分析使用BCA评估拟议的公共政策所固有的伦理和价值承诺，以及(2)审查当BCA应用于有关自然和环境资源的决策时出现的特定伦理和价值问题，并特别关注公共产品和非市场估值。将这些方法与美国农业部林业局土地利用管理决策的案例研究相结合，调查人员还将审查经济学家和经济学学科在BCA在政策制定中发挥重要甚至是决定性作用时所面临的价值冲突。案例研究将基于对专业文献和机构文件的审查，以及对关键线人的访谈。调查人员将通过学术渠道以及多学科和半受欢迎的渠道传播成果；他们还将根据成果为选定的学者、土地利用和环境管理人员以及相关利益集团的代表评估编写一本书和举办一次特别讲习班的可能性。该项目将对围绕BCA的发展和在自然和环境资源公共决策中的应用的伦理和价值问题的学术和专业理解做出独特的贡献。两位调查人员都非常合格；研究生都参与其中；机构支持很好。这是电动车应该鼓励的那种跨学科协作研究的一个很好的例子。结果可能是有用的，并被广泛传播。成本是非常合理的。建议的资助总额为80,000美元，其中70,000美元来自伦理和价值观研究，10,000美元来自经济学项目。

A natural resource and environmental economist and a philosopher specializing in socio-political ethics and the philosophy of economics will study the ethical and value implications of using benefit cost analysis (BCA) when public decisions about natural and environmental resources are being made. Using standard economic-theoretic and philosophical methods, the investigators will (1) identify and analyze the ethical and value commitments inherent in using BCA to evaluate proposed public policies, and (2) examine particular ethics and values issues that arise when BCA is applied to decisions about natural and environmental resources, with special attention to public goods and nonmarket valuations. Combining these methods with a case study of land-use management decision-making in the USDA Forest Service, the investigators will also examine value conflicts confronting economists and the discipline of economics when BCA has an important and perhaps decisive role in policy-making. The case study will be based on review of specialized literature and agency documents, and key-informant interviews. The investigators will disseminate results through scholarly channels as well multidisciplinary and semi-popular outlets; they will also evaluate the possibility of preparing a book and holding a special workshop for for selected scholars, land use and environmental managers, and representatives of relevant interest groups, based on their results. This project will make a unique contribution to scholarly and professional understanding of ethical and value issues surrounding development and application of BCA in public decisions about natural and environmental resources. The investigators are both exceptionally well-qualified; graduate students are involved; institutional support is good. This is a good example of the kind of cross-disciplinary collaborative research EVS should encourage. Results are likely to be useful and widely disseminated. Costs are very reasonable. Total support in the amount of $80,000 is recommended, of which $70,000 comes from Ethics and Values Studies and $10,000 from the Economics Program.