VALUATION
It is easy to put a price tag on manufactured goods like kilowatts, cars and dip nets. It’s not clear how we put a price on ponds to dip the nets in. And a whole experience is priceless, whether it is a day fishing with family, dancing with friends at a nightclub or a lazy back yard barbeque. You can’t price these experiences by adding up the prices of fishing poles, musical instruments or charcoal briquettes. This is what is meant by “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts”.
Valuing ecosystem services in MIMES draws attention to the whole picture in a way that reflects its pricelessness and tackles the difficult job of estimating prices for ecosystem services. Ponds for fish and trees for fresh air are only partially priced or not at all priced in market trading. Current economic trades can give us nothing for something (ie. gulf coast dead zone for cheaper corn flakes) by assuming we get something for nothing from nature. MIMES will help you make better trades by seeing something where the market sees nothing.
Another meaning of “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts” is that
Simple cost benefit analysis is an attempt to price everything and often leads to results that look like (and work like) the pictures below.
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But to understand value you must start with some whole before you chose parts and price them. And you must return the parts to the whole before you estimate their value. MIMES holds the parts always in relationship to the whole to improve estimates of value. Used well, MIMES results in policies we can survive and drive into a pleasant future.
Trading Cases: Is trading credits in created markets a better way to reduce pollution and protect natural resources? (link to Trading cases.pdf in MIMES pdf resources)
Good numbers gone bad: Why relying on GDP as a leading economic gauge can lead to poor decision-making.
Ecosystem valuation from an Economists point of view.
