Economic values are increasingly used in policy analysis and legal settings. With the growing recognition that many of the things that benefit or harm people are outside the market system, have come increasing efforts to develop nonmarket valuation techniques. One such technique is the contingent valuation method (CVM). CVM seeks to value environmental and other nonmarket goods and services by asking individuals about their values using survey methods. These procedures are different from the `revealed-preference' methods that economists have historically employed to estimate economic values.
Why depart from well-established revealed-preference procedures and apply a `stated-preference' method like CVM? For nonmarket goods and services, revealed-preference methods have two shortcomings that those applying CVM hope to avoid. First, revealed-preference methods involve econometric problems that have yet to be fully overcome. The second shortcoming of revealed-preference methods is that such methods, when applied to environmental amenities, are likely to be only partial measures of value.
Given the tremendous interest that exists in economic values and the limitations of revealed-preference methods, it is not surprising that interest in CVM has grown rapidly. Environmental Resource Valuation reviews the application of CVM and compares American experiences in nonmarket evaluation with those in other countries.

I: Introduction to CVM in Italy.- 1. Introduction.- 2. A Review of Cvm Environmental Applications In Italy.- II: Conceptual Issues.- 3 Total Economic Value and Evaluation Techniques.- 4 Cognitive Representations of Total Value in a Cvm Framework: a Critical Review of The Literature.- 5 Paternalism Vs. Consumer Sovereignty in the Economic Appraisal of Non-market Goods.- III: Wildlife Applications.- 6 The Economic Value of Wildlife (Game And Non-Game): Two Cvm Case Studies From Northeastern Italy.- 7 The Economic Value of Hunting in Florence Province.- 8 The Economic Value of Hunting Activity: a Cvm Study at Tonezza Del Cimone (Vicenza) Alpine Preserve.- 9 Valuing Birdwatching in a Mediterranean Wetland.- IV: Other Applications.- 10 Individual Wtps for Reductions in Cancer Death Risks.- 11 The Economic Value of Rural Landscape: an Application to the Area Between Isonzo and Tagliamento Rivers (Friuli-Venezia Giulia).- 12 Kernel Vs. Logit Modeling of Single Bounded Cv Responses: Valuing Access to Architectural and Visual Arts Heritage in Italy.- 13 Categorical Nesting and Information Effects on Wtp Estimates for The Conservation of Cultural Heritage in Campi Flegrei.- V: Current Status and Outlook.- 14 Reflections on Validity and the Italian Experience with Contingent Valuation.- Author Index.