"Avaliação contingente" de investimentos ambientais: um estudo de caso

Abstract

Many economists have long believed that by balancing the costs of such public goods as air quality and wildeness areas against their benefits, informed policy choices can be made. But the problem of putting a money value on goods such as cleaner air or watergoods not sold in the marketplace - has been major stumbling block. At this time it is possible to argue that the \lq\lq contingent valuation method offers the most promising approach for determining public willingness to pay for many public goods. This paper tries to show that this approach may succeed, if used carefully, where others have failed. The paper presents a brief discussion of the contingent valuation method, its nature and theoretical basis. It also shows an application carried on in the valuation of a bigger investment project in Espirito Santo.