ABSTRACT
The sum of specific damages (SSD) approach to valuing the environment is a “natural” approach in that it attempts to place a price on an input into production or consumption that corresponds to the opportunity cost of the use of the resource. This approach to valuing environmental improvements also makes explicit the fact that the benefits of cleanup are equivalent to reductions in damages. This approach is also sometimes referred to as the “health effects model,” since the damages usually considered are related to morbidity and/or mortality and because dose-response epidemiological evidence figures prominently in the measurement of the physical effects of concern.
