Suchergebnisse

Kula's sum of discounted consumption flows method of investment appraisal may produce perplexing results in application; in some cases it does not produce the intended intergenerational equity. A modification to avoid these problems leads to inefficient allocation of consumption over time, without eliminating inequity. Examination of the basis of discounting suggests that, insofar as it is justifiable, it should be applied conventionally to reflect diminishing marginal utility of consumption as in the net present value criterion.

Simplifying the intertemporal allocation of a stock resource to a two-period model fails to account for the unequal relationship between time periods, and, more seriously, does not account for an increase in stock scarcity as the number of periods is increased. Discounting mitigates the problem, but the appropriateness of this to natural resources is under challenge. A multiperiod model shows the future costs of present use increasing well beyond normal time horizons. An optimal conservation tax may be large, even indefinitely so.

Conflict between development and conservation interests in national parks is real, yet intractable to market resolution. Aggregate willingness to pay for recreation and landscape indicates growing value being given to conservation. However, resource shortages have recently increased emphasis on material production. Land-use policy represents a combination of objectives concerning quality of life, population level, and resource conservation. The extent of conflict between these objectives is contentious, and existing techniques of evaluating their achievement are barely defensible. Even individual land-use decisions significantly influence attainment of all three objectives. To treat them properly requires an evaluation radically different from existing techniques.

When it is expected that different population levels will be associated with alternative land uses, cost—benefit analysts could adopt three treatments of benefit. (1) Only the benefit of population common to all land uses is considered. (2) The potential Pareto improvement criterion is adopted, requiring that gainers from any change can compensate losers. (3) Utility weights are used to interpret willingness-to-pay in terms of benefit. Despite the apparent feeling of economists that treatment (1) avoids difficult value judgements, all three treatments raise problems of ascribing preferences to the yet-unborn, and of estimating the total utility of life.

Complex functional form makes it difficult to establish the universality of relationships between trip distributions and landscape features such as pylons. Subjective judgement of aesthetic quality can be made more rigorous by relating it to holiday expenditure and the preference for general quality, as revealed by trip distributions. Ascribed values should be discounted according to factors more directly relevant than investment rate of return. Familiarity and uniqueness of landscapes obstruct substitution for despoiled ones, and introduce values not revealed by trip-distribution analysis. Research might reach a more effective compromise from a subjective than from an objective starting point.

Utilities in the UK have undergone dramatic reform in the past fifteen years. This paper assesses the outcome by reviewing previously published work and introducing some new evidence, and assesses the UK Government's 1998 proposed reforms. We outline the impact of change of ownership, re‐regulation and introducing competition on efficiency, investment, quality of service, prices and equity. We conclude that these reforms can yield benefits if they are undertaken within a clear framework of wider social and environmental benefits. Initial regulation in the UK has not always satisfied these criteria, and we welcome the government's proposed reforms, with some caveats