The concept of Total Economic Value of environment: A reconsideration within a hierarchical rationality

In this paper, we argue that option and non-use values stem from more different levels of choice problems than use values and thus, must be apprehended in a multidimensional framework. We distinguish three levels of choice problem to which various rationality criteria of Social Cost-Benefit Analysis are attached. This allows us to make a distinction between the different components of the value of the environment according to the level of problems to which they're relevant. Thus, we propose to re-interpret the concept of Total Economic Value, particularly option and non-use values, within this multidimensional framework. We present an application of this framework for the selection of preferred highway route (highway A85 in France).