ABSTRACT
The extension of prices to environmental goods so that the 'true' value of preferences for them can be discovered is the road to resolving environmental problems. The neoclassical project of attempting to cost all environmental goods in monetary terms becomes an instance of a larger expansion of market boundaries. The two neoclassical responses to environmental problems raise issues on both fronts. Free market solutions to environmental problems that attempt to extend tradable property rights to environmental goods raise questions of market boundaries of the first kind. The chapter provides an obvious contrast between King Darius's willingness to accept survey and the willingness-to-pay surveys of his modern economic counterpart. Darius's survey aims to elicit protest bids. The story would have been ruined if the Kallatiai had responded by putting in a realistic price. The reason Darius elicits the protests is to reveal the commitments of the individuals involved.
