Well, before I try to respond to you, Julien, here is some more about "the
realtion between wage and the consumption basket"
I like the idea that some are waking up to "real" economics. Howabout that
last line?
[sigh]
Tom
***
Environment AmeriScan: July 21, 2000 PLACING A PRICE ON ECOSYSTEMS COULD
ENCOURAGE CONSERVATION STANFORD, California, July 21, 2000 (ENS) - A group
of ecologists and economists say it is possible to reach a consensus on the
economic value of a rainforest or other environmental habitat. In a report
in today's issue of the journal "Science," 17 scientists say putting a price
tag on ecosystems may be necessary to create economic incentives for
preserving them. "We must make conservation profitable," says biologist
Gretchen Daily, lead author of the report. "We'll never save the environment
on the basis of charity alone. We have decades of experience showing this.
We need to create ways of rewarding people financially for protecting
environmental assets." Daily suggests four basic steps for calculating the
economic value of an ecosystem. First, make a list of the goods and services
from nature that humans depend on to survive. Next, determine which goods
and services are most threatened. Third, figure out how their loss will
affect society - not just in dollars but also in terms of human welfare.
Finally, once the risks are determined, people at all levels of society
should work together to create incentives for protecting critical elements
of ecosystem capital. "In a way, it's writing off certain species. If it
benefits humanity directly, we'll save it. But what happens to the condors
and the pandas?" asks Daily. "We're faced with hideous tradeoffs no matter
how you look at it. What we're offering is a framework for thinking about
these tradeoffs. As the population approaches 10 billion people, we'll
continue to fight over smaller and smaller scraps of land and fewer
resources," she notes. "Never before has society been faced with these kinds
of challenges." * * *
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