Rethinking the use of the residual value method for ecosystem services valuation
本文指出联合国环境经济核算体系推荐的残值法在估算生态系统服务交换价值时存在忽略服务作为生产要素、可能得出负值等问题，认为该方法不适用于生态系统账户，建议改用其他核算方法。
A critical component of ecosystem accounts is the monetary value of ecosystem services. This requires the estimation of an exchange value for the ecosystem services, which represents the value the ecosystem service would receive if a market for the service existed. The UN System of Environmental-Economic Accounting – Ecosystem Accounting (SEEA EA) endorses a range of different approaches for deriving estimates of the exchange value of the ecosystem services. One such approach that has been widely adopted is to derive an estimate of resource rent based on the “residual value method”. This assumes that resource rent – a measure of the value of the ecosystem input into production – is equivalent to the residual value after all costs (including normal returns to manufactured capital) have been deducted from revenue. Several issues exist with this approach, foremost being that it does not explicitly consider the ecosystem service to be an input into the production process, and in some applications, has resulted in negative estimates of the value of the ecosystem service. In this paper, we highlight the issues around the use of the residual value method, and propose that it is not an appropriate method for use in estimating exchange prices for ecosystem services for use in ecosystem accounts. Instead, we suggest that exchange values for ecosystem services be based on one of the other SEEA EA endorsed approaches.