Valuation Techniques for Social Cost-Benefit Analysis: - HM Treasury

opinion of others can affect our individual perceptions of the value of different objects, which
has implications for the contingent valuation workshop approach suggested by Hanley and
Shrogen, (2002) (see section 4.2 of this paper).
This research is still very much in its early stages, but neuroeconomics has the potential to
provide scientifically-grounded evidence on how and if preferences are constructed and the
mechanisms involved in how people perceive and state value. It is also possible for example to
assess the role of attention and the framing of questions in neural determinants of choice and
value (Kahneman and Frederick, 2007; De Martino, et al., 2006). There is belief that findings
from neuroscience and neuroeconomics ―will soon play a large role in shaping the concepts and
theories of behavioural research‖ (Kahneman, 2009); research that is central to properly
understanding how people make valuations.
For further sources and discussion on the role of neuroscience in economics and valuation the
reader is directed to Glimcher et al. (2009), Kenning and Plassman (2005), Camerer et. al.
(2005) and Braeutigam (2005).
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