ECONOMICS UNIQUENESS

52 ■ THE ECONOMICS OF UNIQUENESS
assets and to the services they provide is an all-pervading problem, whether the
value sought is economic, cultural, or a mix of the two.
Th e distinction put forward earlier between the economic and the cultural
value of heritage can now be elaborated in more detail.
Economic Value
As is the case with valuation of natural environments, it is customary in identifying
the economic value of heritage assets to distinguish between use and non-use
values, that is, between the direct value to consumers of the heritage services as a
private good and the value accruing to those who experience the benefi ts of the
heritage as a public good. Sometimes these eff ects are referred to, respectively, as
market and non-market value.
Th e use value of a heritage building is observed in several ways. Th e building
may provide offi ce, retail, or other space to occupants who use the building for
commercial purposes, in which case the actual or imputed rents paid serve as
an indicator of the building’s value in use. Likewise the heritage asset may be a
domestic dwelling where again rental rates or their equivalent are a measure of
the private-good value of the services provided. In the case of heritage buildings
and sites that are visited by tourists, use values are refl ected in the individual benefi
ts that tourists enjoy as a result of their visit.
A monetary indicator is provided by the entry price paid, enabling aggregation
of a total use value generated by the building or site over a given period of
time. Although such a calculation yields an estimate of fi nancial return, a complete
account of the economic use benefi ts to tourists would need to include their
consumer’s surplus as well. In addition, for many heritage sites visited by tourists,
the use benefi ts would also include revenue from the commercial exploitation
of the site via visitor centers where cafes, restaurants, and gift shops are located.
Occasionally, a distinction is drawn between active use of a heritage building
or site, such as those uses discussed above, and passive use that arises as an incidental
experience for individuals, such as when pedestrians enjoy the aesthetic
qualities of a historic building or site as they happen to pass by. Th is type of benefi
t is classed as a positive externality. Although in principle a monetary value
could be assigned to it, in practice it is usually ignored in any calculation of the
economic value of cultural heritage because of diffi culties in defi ning appropriate
populations of benefi ciaries and in identifying the willingness to pay (to protect
or enjoy the asset) in valid terms.
Turning to non-use value, we can observe that cultural heritage yields publicgood
benefi ts that can be classifi ed in the same ways in which the non-market
benefi ts of environmental amenities such as forests, wilderness areas, marine
parks, and so on are determined. Th ree types of non-rival and non-excludable