Bequest value, in

economics Economics () is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interactions of economic agents and how economies work. Microeconomics analy ...

, is the

value Value or values may refer to: Ethics and social * Value (ethics) wherein said concept may be construed as treating actions themselves as abstract objects, associating value to them ** Values (Western philosophy) expands the notion of value beyo ...

of satisfaction from preserving a

natural environment The natural environment or natural world encompasses all living and non-living things occurring naturally, meaning in this case not artificial. The term is most often applied to the Earth or some parts of Earth. This environment encompasses ...

or a historic environment, in other words

natural heritage Natural heritage refers to the sum total of the elements of biodiversity, including flora and fauna, ecosystems and geological structures. It forms part of our natural resources. Definition Heritage is that which is ''inherited'' from past gene ...

or cultural heritage for future generations. It is often used when estimating the value of an

environmental service Ecosystem services are the many and varied benefits to humans provided by the natural environment and healthy ecosystems. Such ecosystems include, for example, agroecosystems, forest ecosystem, grassland ecosystems, and aquatic ecosystems. T ...

or good. Together with the

existence value Existence values are a class of economic value, reflecting the benefit people receive from knowing that a particular environmental resource, such as Antarctica, the Grand Canyon, endangered species, or any other organism or thing exists. Existenc ...

, it makes up the

non-use value Non-use value is the value that people assign to economic goods (including public goods) even if they never have and never will use it. It is distinguished from use value, which people derive from direct use of the good. The concept is most common ...

of such an environmental service or good.

References

Environmental economics {{econ-stub