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Como Ven El Ambiente Los Economistas
Como Ven El Ambiente Los Economistas
be evaluated. True enough, economists typi- The reason is that an improvement in eco- 1. Smith, A. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of
cally favour using market prices, whenever nomic efficiency can be determined by a sim- Nations (Whitestone, Dublin, 1776).
2. Hahn, R. W. & Hester, G. L. Ecol. Law Q. 16, 361–406 (1989).
possible, to carry out such evaluations, ple and unambiguous criterion — an
3. Schmalensee, R. et al. J. Econ. Perspect.12, No. 3 (Summer
because these prices reveal how members of increase in total net benefits. What consti- 1998).
society actually value the scarce amenities tutes an improvement in distributional equi- 4. Hahn, R. W. & Stavins, R. N. Am. Econ. Rev. 82, 464–468
and resources under consideration. ty, on the other hand, is inevitably the subject (1992).
5. Smith, V. K. & Huang, J.-C. J. Polit. Econ. 103, 209–227 (1995).
Economists are wary of asking people of considerable dispute. Nevertheless, many
6. Arrow, K. et al. Science 272, 221–222 (1996).
how much they value something, as respon- economists do analyse distributional issues 7. Christiansen, G. B. & Tietenberg, T. H. in Handbook of Natural
dents may not provide honest assessments of thoroughly. The more difficult problem, not Resource and Energy Economics Vol. 1 (eds Kneese, A. V. &
their own valuations. Instead, actions may yet solved in a satisfactory manner, is how to Sweeney, J. L.) 345–393 (North-Holland, Amsterdam, 1985).
434 Nature © Macmillan Publishers Ltd 1998 NATURE | VOL 395 | 1 OCTOBER 1998 | www.nature.com