A methodology for estimating total hicksian income in multiple-use forests is presented. The approach consistently incorporates commercial as well as non-commercial economic values and enables the measurement of national accounting aggregates taking into account variation in man-made and natural capital. Innovative solutions are developed (i) for the estimation of non-market values, such as recreation, where an attempt to determine exchange values has been made simulating markets, (ii) for timber, where standing timber valuation methods have been extended to cover uneven stands, and (iii) for carbon fixation valuation, where only permanently fixed carbon after 1990 has been taken into account. The methodology is applied to a multiple-use pinewood in the Guadarrama mountains, near Madrid (Spain). Timber, cattle grazing, hunting, recreation, carbon fixation and conservation values are measured and integrated in the accounting system, using primary microeconomic data from the case study. Results indicate the importance of non-commercial income, which accounts for 51% of the total income, and the social relevance of the analysed forest, implying that only 31% of the total income generated is appropriated by the forest owner.

An operative framework for total hicksian income measurement - Application to a multiple-use forest

An operative framework for total hicksian income measurement: application to a multiple-use forest.

Social and private total Hicksian incomes of multiple use forests in Spain

Simulated exchange values and ecosystem accounting: Theory and application to free access recreation

We all agree: environment and economy interact, and interaction requires integrative policies. Figure I1 describes this interaction in terms of the well-known (re)source and sink (waste disposal) functions provided by the environment to the economy. Environment and economy also affect human welfare through the consumption of goods and services and a deteriorating life-support system. We disagree, however, on how to assess this interaction and on its policy consequences.

Greening the National Accounts — Approach and Policy Use

Modelling plays a limited role in the central framework accounts of the System of National Accounts (SNA), which are based essentially on observations. By contrast, satellite environmental accounts in money terms, with the more ambitious objectives advanced in the United Nations System of integrated Environmental and Economic Accounting (SEEA), seem largely a modelling construct. Modelling is used in a broad sense, covering valuation relying on economic theory. Such an approach requires careful explanation of what types of flows and stocks are intended to be measured, what seems to be measurable, what is actually measured (or measurable) and what is the meaning of the aggregates that are proposed. This chapter discusses some issues in relation with the interim version of the SEEA. They include mainly the difficulty raised by the advocated combination of exchange values (market prices) and use values (based on analysis of the consumer surplus) in the welfare approach. Ex post modelling used for the estimation of the hypothetical maintenance costs also raises some questions as to the meaning of the results, based on partial and constrained modelling, and their inclusion in an accounting framework.

André Vanoli

Papers

Modelling and accounting work in national and environmental accounts