An accurate economic analysis obviously requires all the benefits and costs of some action to be included. However, what do you do when many important benefits and costs of policies are not reflected in market transactions? Economists have extended standard economic theory to estimate the monetary values that people have for cleaner water, safer food, better health, and publicly provided outdoor recreation activities. These methods rely upon households' travel behavior to estimate the value of cleaner lakes and improved fishing conditions. For the benefits of improved health and protecting natural environments they may not currently visit, economists can create simulated or hypothetical markets to elicit what people would pay if there was a market to buy protection of unique natural environments. The collection of papers in this issue provide a non-technical introduction to the economic principles and methods that underlie commonly used non-market valuation techniques. Each of the methods are illustrated with examples drawn from actual policy analyses performed in the United States.

Counter-Cyclical Payments Under the 2002 Farm Act: Production Effects Likely to be Limited

The Sweet Smell of Subsidies Revisited