Economic Measurement for Marine and Coastal Ecosystem Assets and Services

Effectively mitigating the impacts of global change on ecosystems will require robust, comparable measures to evaluate policy outcomes. However, economic measures for natural systems are sensitive to assumptions about underlying anthropogenic and ecological processes. Using examples from coastal and marine systems, I will explore the intersection of economics and ecosystem measurement. I use a setting in coastal Florida to explore whether planned transfers of beach sand from one side of an inlet to the other are valued differentially compared to naturally provided sand. Quantifying gaps between natural capital assets, services, and putative produced-capital substitutes is important for virtually all policies involving land use—from municipal zoning to climate.  I will then turn to beach-dune systems in North Carolina to address how structural characteristics of properties—the nature of produced capital—come to bear on the value of and trade-offs among natural assets. Finally, I will bring my estimates to the policymaking table to inform more efficient adaptation strategies in the coastal zone.