The ability of human subjects to choose between disparate kinds of rewards suggests that the neural circuits for valuing different reward types must converge. Economic theory suggests that these convergence points represent the subjective values (SVs) of different reward types on a common scale for comparison. To examine these hypotheses and to map the neural circuits for reward valuation we ha...

Executive Summary v Glossary of Economic Terms ix 1. Introduction 1 1.1 Background and hypotheses 1 1.2 Objectives and target audience 1 1.3 Definitions and scope 1 1.4 Structure of paper 4 2. Economics and Forestry: a Conceptual Overview 4 2.1 Introduction 4 2.2 Forestry, economics and public resource allocation 4 2.3 Recent changes in economic and forest policies 5 2.4 The development of envi...

We develop a conceptual framework for valuing biodiversity from an economic perspective. We argue for a dynamic economic welfare measure of biodiversity that complements the literature on beneŽ t-cost approaches and genetic distance/phylogenic tree approaches. Using a uniŽ ed model of optimal economic management of an ecosystem under ecological and genetic constraints, we identify gains from ma...

Introduction The method of inclusion of environmental resources and ecosystem services in decision processes determines how far they are taken into account with results affecting the quality of our lives and those of future generations. A persistent argument has been that monetary valuation is essential if the 'environment' is to have any chance of being included in government and business deci...

This paper employs an economic-engineering optimization model to explore water supply options for environmental restoration of the Colorado River Delta, Mexico. Potential water sources include reductions in local agricultural and urban water use through water markets, wastewater reuse, and additional Colorado River flows from the United States. For these alternatives, the optimization model est...

The amygdala is a key structure of the brain's reward system. Existing theories view its role in decision-making as restricted to an early valuation stage that provides input to decision mechanisms in downstream brain structures. However, the extent to which the amygdala itself codes information about economic choices is unclear. Here, we report that individual neurons in the primate amygdala p...

Natural resource management (NRM) typically involves complex decision problems that affect a wide variety of stakeholder values. More efficient NRM that seeks enhanced environmental, social and financial net benefits necessitates assessments of the environmental impacts, and costs and benefits of management investments in an integrated manner. Integrated assessment (IA) provides an approach to ...

The valuation process that economic agents undergo for investments with uncertain payoff typically depends on their statistical views on possible future outcomes, their attitudes toward risk, and, of course, the payoff structure itself. Yields vary across different investment opportunities and their interrelations are difficult to explain. For the same agent, a different discounting factor has ...

Political Culture and Discrimination in Contests Many economic and political decisions are the outcome of strategic contests for a given prize. The nature of such contests can be determined by a designer who is driven by political considerations with a specific political culture. The main objective of this study is to analyze the effect of political culture and of valuation asymmetry on discrim...