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Book reviews

Book reviews BOOK REVIEWS DANIEL E AUSTIN, BOOK REVIEW EDITOR Agricultural Values of Plant Genetic Resources. Robert Evenson, D. Gollin and V. Santaniello, eds. 1998. Oxford University Press, 198 Madison Ave., New York, NY 10016. 285 pp. (hardcover). $75.00. ISBN 0-85199-295-1. Here is a book edited by three economists that evaluates the economic side of plant genetic resources. FAO co-sponsored a Symposium on the Economics of Valuation and Conservation of Genetic Resources for Agriculture, in May 1996; its purpose was to encourage a fair and equitable sharing of the related benefits and costs. The editors describe the sources of value for genetic resources: environmental ethic, the cost of extinction, and the cost of genetic uniformity in commonly used species. The concept of option value is common in financial economics and is readily adapted to this framework. The editors cite Brush et al. (1992) who provided evidence that Peruvian peasants maintain certain thresholds of on-farm diversity even when the immediate advantages of switching to improved varieties are large. They suggest that the cost of maintaining the 'emergency' stock of traditional varieties represents a form of option value. "This is the amount that peasants are prepared to forego in order to maintain http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Economic Botany Springer Journals

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Publisher
Springer Journals
Copyright
Copyright © 2001 by The New York Botanical Garden
Subject
Life Sciences; Life Sciences, general; Plant Sciences; Plant Ecology; Plant Systematics/Taxonomy/Biogeography
ISSN
0013-0001
eISSN
1874-9364
DOI
10.1007/BF02866568
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

BOOK REVIEWS DANIEL E AUSTIN, BOOK REVIEW EDITOR Agricultural Values of Plant Genetic Resources. Robert Evenson, D. Gollin and V. Santaniello, eds. 1998. Oxford University Press, 198 Madison Ave., New York, NY 10016. 285 pp. (hardcover). $75.00. ISBN 0-85199-295-1. Here is a book edited by three economists that evaluates the economic side of plant genetic resources. FAO co-sponsored a Symposium on the Economics of Valuation and Conservation of Genetic Resources for Agriculture, in May 1996; its purpose was to encourage a fair and equitable sharing of the related benefits and costs. The editors describe the sources of value for genetic resources: environmental ethic, the cost of extinction, and the cost of genetic uniformity in commonly used species. The concept of option value is common in financial economics and is readily adapted to this framework. The editors cite Brush et al. (1992) who provided evidence that Peruvian peasants maintain certain thresholds of on-farm diversity even when the immediate advantages of switching to improved varieties are large. They suggest that the cost of maintaining the 'emergency' stock of traditional varieties represents a form of option value. "This is the amount that peasants are prepared to forego in order to maintain

Journal

Economic Botany – Springer Journals

Published: Jul 1, 2001

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