Environmental preservation, uncertainty, and irreversibility¶
Arrow, K. J., & Fisher, A. C. (1974). Environmental preservation, uncertainty, and irreversibility. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 88(2), 312-319.
Cited by¶
2 citations across 2 artifacts.
Each citation links to the sentence it supports in the citing article.
Primes¶
- Reversibility and Irreversibility
- Irreversibility (the existing prime) describes a one-way door already passed; Reversibility and Irreversibility describes the choice of whether to pass through the door, and at what cost—a distinction Arrow and Fisher (1974) made operational through quasi-option value, the value of not yet having committed irreversibly when learning is still possible.
This sourceIntroduces quasi-option value: the value of preserving the option not to commit irreversibly when learning is still possible; foundational distinction between irreversible finality and the choice of whether to commit.
Supported in partVerified against the publisher's abstract
Only the abstract was readable: it states the paper's result that uncertainty reduces net benefits from activities with environmental costs, but never names quasi-option value or mentions learning.
“It is shown in particular that the existence of uncertainty will, in certain important cases, lead to a reduction in net benefits from an activity with environmental costs. In such cases the implication for an efficient control policy will generally involve some restriction of the activity.”
- Irreversibility (the existing prime) describes a one-way door already passed; Reversibility and Irreversibility describes the choice of whether to pass through the door, and at what cost—a distinction Arrow and Fisher (1974) made operational through quasi-option value, the value of not yet having committed irreversibly when learning is still possible.
- Reversibility Horizon
- The reversibility horizon, by contrast, is about the economics of reversal, not the possibility of reversal—a separation Arrow and Fisher (1974) drew explicitly in their analysis of quasi-option value, where preserving the option to reverse has economic worth even when reversal is technically possible.
This sourceIntroduces quasi-option value: the value of preserving the option not to commit irreversibly when learning is still possible; foundational distinction between irreversible finality and the choice of whether to commit.
Supported in partVerified against the publisher's abstract
The supplied abstract establishes that the paper models uncertainty over environmental costs and their effect on net benefits; it says nothing of quasi-option value or an explicit economics-versus-possibility distinction.
“The purpose of this paper is to explore the implications of uncertainty surrounding estimates of the environmental costs of some economic activities. It is shown in particular that the existence of uncertainty will, in certain important cases, lead to a reduction in net benefits from an activity with environmental costs.”
- The reversibility horizon, by contrast, is about the economics of reversal, not the possibility of reversal—a separation Arrow and Fisher (1974) drew explicitly in their analysis of quasi-option value, where preserving the option to reverse has economic worth even when reversal is technically possible.
Verification¶
Does it exist? Not checked yet. This entry carries no identifier to resolve. It was extracted from the citation as written in the article, normalized, and deduplicated against the rest of the registry.
Does it back the claim? Read against the text for 2 of 2 citations: 2 supported in part. Each verdict is shown under its citation below, with what in the work backs the sentence.
Support is checked per citation rather than per work — the same source can be cited soundly in one article and wrongly in another. Per-citation recording began recently, so a citation with no recorded check is a gap in the record rather than evidence it went unchecked.
See how references were verified.
Registry ID ref:9fcffd44a110 · see in the full table