Priceless: On Knowing the Price of Everything and the Value of Nothing

Lisa Heinzerling wrote a somewhat viral review of a Supreme Court book, noting in part her role in a key environmental case. I checked to see if she had some other stuff available. She worked a case book on Food Law, which appears fun. Further back (2004), she co-wrote the title book, which is a relatively painless economic analysis from a progressive point of view. I say this since money (in more ways than one) simply isn't my thing.

The book had a few basic themes. The core theme is that things like the well being of human beings simply cannot be really translated into monetary terms. In that sense, it is "priceless." The attempts tend to be bad and anti-regulatory biased. The book ends up promoting a precautionary principle as well as supporting non-cost/benefit rules for this type of thing.

So, like the military promotes certain ends, the Clean Air Act protected something; it didn't ask agencies to make cost/benefit weighing. The book doesn't really clarify the choices to be made here, perhaps implicitly noting it is up to us. It does emphasize fairness, including noting how cost/benefit weighing of human life tends to discriminate against various people.