PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Jonathan Aldred TI - Incommensurability and Monetary Valuation AID - 10.3368/le.82.2.141 DP - 2006 May 01 TA - Land Economics PG - 141--161 VI - 82 IP - 2 4099 - http://le.uwpress.org/content/82/2/141.short 4100 - http://le.uwpress.org/content/82/2/141.full SO - Land Econ2006 May 01; 82 AB - At the very heart of environmental cost-benefit analysis (CBA) is the claim that benefits and costs can be expressed in terms of money and hence made comparable. In particular, CBA puts all benefits and costs on a cardinal, monetary scale: it assumes monetary commensurability. A significant literature in ethics and political philosophy has arisen which doubts this assumption, but has so far had little impact on the theory or practice of CBA. In light of this, the paper assesses the defense of monetary commensurability offered by cost-benefit analysts and the wider economics literature. (JEL Q51)