ABSTRACT
In the Federal Republic of Germany, research dealing with the economic assessment (monetarization) of the benefits derived from an improvement and of the costs resulting from a deterioration of the environment has received an unexpectedly strong impetus in recent years. Very few of the experienced cost-benefit analysts had reckoned with this trend. It was the intention of the Federal Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety, with a commitment of funds of over DM 3 million, to have the economic value of the environment monetarized as far as was possible, by 1990 at the latest. The symposium "Costs of environmental pollution" marked the beginning of the entire research programme and defined its direction. In the foreword to the proceedings of the symposium, which were published by the Federal Environmental Agency in 1986, Walter Wallmann-then Federal Minister for the Environment - stated:
In the past, much too often only the costs directly incurred by environmental protection measures were discussed. The question as to the benefits to be derived from environmental protection, however, is just as important. We already know today that early and consistent protection of the environment is of great benefit to our economy in the areas of health, vegetation, buildings, works of art and materials. Failure to protect the environment, on the other hand, is a costly mortgage on our future .... The research programme will ... mould our future environmental policy and will help objectify environmental policy discussions.
