Environmental Accounting
Title
Environmental Accounting
Author
Muller, Nicholas Z.
Research Area
Social Processes
Topic
Environmental and Climate Change
Abstract
While metrics such as gross domestic product (GDP) constitute important means to gauge the value of production, it is widely recognized that indices that focus exclusively on market production are incomplete. Omitted environmental assets include (i) those that have the capacity to act as a source of valuable inputs to production such as timber, subsurface minerals, or fisheries; and (ii) media that serve as a sink for anthropogenic residuals such as air, water, or soil. The human health impacts depend crucially on two parameters in the integrated asset models (IAMs): the effect that exposures to fine particles have on adult mortality rates and the value attributed to small changes in mortality risk. This essay focuses on recent research that augments standard measures of output to include damages from air and greenhouse gas pollution into national output.