Decision structuring to alleviate embedding in environmental valuation

Embedding is the widely-observed phenomenon that a good is assigned a higher value if evaluated on its own rather than as part of a more inclusive set. Embedding is considered a serious problem affecting the quality of many environmental management and health risk policy judgments. This paper presents the results of an experiment involving of a structured, small-group approach for conducting environmental policy evaluations. It focuses on eliciting problem-specific values and discussion among participants about the pros and cons of multiple project alternatives, in the context of tradeoffs between fisheries production and electricity generation from dams. Study results show a significant reduction in embedding, which is viewed as an improvement in the quality of the preference judgments compared with a standard contingent valuation (CV) approach. # 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.