Challenges when Valuing Cultural Heritage Associated with Water

Abstract

This article outlines some of the difficulties associated with valuing cultural heritage. They include the surmountable problems of pricing cultural heritage and the associated market failures inherent in all water systems. Critical to any attempt to value cultural heritage is the need to quantify exactly what cultural heritage encompasses. While the theoretical concept of economic value is a relatively simple one, applying it to cultural heritage can only be accomplished if it is well defined.