중남미

What is the utility from obtaining more precise values of
natural resource objects (rainforests), through surveys or
other similar information gathering? In the value of information
problems studied here, a principal who wishes to
preserve a resource sets a price to offer to a seller without
knowing precisely the protection value or opportunity
value, to the seller. The value of information related to
more precise information about the protection value for
the principal is a key issue in environmental and natural
resource valuation, but it is in most cases implicit and not
analyzed. More precise resource values reduce the frequency
of two types of mistakes (saving the resource when it should
not be saved, and not saving the resource when it should be
saved), and increases the principal’s ex ante expected utility
value. This paper applies the model to Amazon rainforest
protection and considers the hypothetical value of perfect
information. The analysis finds that the value of perfect
information can easily exceed realistic information costs,
thus perhaps justifying significant expenditures for valuation
studies, given that all available information is used
efficiently for conservation decision purposes. The value of
perfect information also depends on the nature of buyerseller
interactions, and is higher in the altruistic case, where
the principal has full concern for the outcome for the seller.