ts Use value could be assigned an easily-calculated value based upon market prices, accessibility, et al.
Again referring to the definitions supplied by Cicchetti and Wilde, who summarize classification schemes devised by Mitchell & Carson and Randall & Stoll (1992, p. 1121), Non-use values are further divided into Option and Existence categories. The Option category of Non-use valuation refers directly to its Use value counterpart:
Option: The value to an individual of knowing the natural resource is available for use in the future, over and above expected use value.
The Option category of Non-use values is, obviously, an extension of Use value: it is a "planning" category, necessary when one must make projections of future resources. As such, the Option category of Non-use values is closely related to the Use value/Expected Use category.
It is in the area of Existence categories of Non-use values that the economist enters the uncomfortable realm of emotionalism. Using the same set of Cicchetti and Wilde summary definitions as earlier (1992, p. 1121), Existence categories are further sub-divided:
Vicarious - the value of knowing other individuals are currently able to use the resource;
Bequest - the value of knowing future generations will be able to use the resource;
Inherent - the value of knowing the resource exists over and above any other use or nonuse value.
In examining the literature made available for considering Non-use valuation techniques, it is observed that the entire field is an outgrowth of Contingent Value (CV) practice - itself a development stemming from the 1940s, according to W. Michael Hanemann:
... in the 1930s, economic valuation was generally perceived in terms of market prices. ... Two things changed this. The first ... prompted by the "new welfare economics" of the 1940s ... [regarding] public utility pricing, that the appropriate welfare criterion is maximization of aggre...