Value of Improved Information about Forest Protection Values, with Application to Rainforest Valuation

Strand, Jon ; Siddiqui, Sauleh

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: PURCHASE PRICE;    RISKS;    PRODUCTION;    VALUATION;    CARBON;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-7423
RP-ID  :  WPS7423

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

What is the utility from obtaining moreprecise values of natural resource objects (rainforests),through surveys or other similar information gathering? Inthe value of information problems studied here, a principalwho wishes to preserve a resource sets a price to offer to aseller without knowing precisely the protection value oropportunity value, to the seller. The value of informationrelated to more precise information about the protectionvalue for the principal is a key issue in environmental andnatural resource valuation, but it is in most cases implicitand not analyzed. More precise resource values reduce thefrequency of two types of mistakes (saving the resource whenit should not be saved, and not saving the resource when itshould be saved), and increases the principal’s ex anteexpected utility value. This paper applies the model toAmazon rainforest protection and considers the hypotheticalvalue of perfect information. The analysis finds that thevalue of perfect information can easily exceed realisticinformation costs, thus perhaps justifying significantexpenditures for valuation studies, given that all availableinformation is used efficiently for conservation decisionpurposes. The value of perfect information also depends onthe nature of buyer-seller interactions, and is higher inthe altruistic case, where the principal has full concernfor the outcome for the seller.