Value Analysis for a More Efficient Environmental Policy

Analysis of subjective parameters such as cultural differences and tastes is important in constructing law. Though this understanding is not new, for decades the legal scholarship approach to common-pool management was based on a purely economic approach that disregarded these broader aspects. Over the years, the pure economic model has been expanded to include analysis of both social and personal norms. Nevertheless, despite the growing understanding that subjective parameters are important in constructing environmental policy, the implementation of such parameters into effective law and policy is still lacking. This paper promulgates an interdisciplinary approach to address this challenge. By implementation of the Value Theory, which initially sprung from psychology research, pragmatic tools are provided for integrating subjective parameters into policy for sustainable development. As this paper illustrates, Value Theory is an empirically validated, rather simple tool that can bridge the intricacies of analysis involving subjective parameters. Understanding the underlying values at both the individual and group level creates a framework that helps decipher how policy tools can have different results when applied to different groups. This resulting insight can direct the most efficient policy that is directed at actual human behavior, rather than hypothesized behavior. This paper illustrates the suggested approach for an environmental case, both through the analysis of current works using the lens of Value Theory and by reviewing empirical work on Value Theory.