ABSTRACT
Economists need not accord special status to sustainability or landscape value: these ideas are embraced in the standard theory of pricing. In a sustainability context, retained landscape may be priced by the cost of preserving it; lost landscape, by the cost of restoring it. Where restoration is infeasible, the cost of creating landscape offering similar services, or even alternative forms of enjoyment, may be used. Where different services are offered, sustainability requires measurement of landscape values, to assure that substitutes have at least equivalent value. However, change of relative values through time is not properly reflected in standard investment appraisals. Abandoning such appraisal techniques offers more to future generations than imposing sustainability constraints.
