eLearning

David A. Starrett
Economists are widely viewed by the general public
as being committed tomarkets as a way of allocating
resources and consequently to the use of market
prices as a reflection of social value. This view has
given economists a bad reputation in some circles;
indeed, there is a cynical definition of an economist
as someone who ‘‘knows the price of everything and
the value of nothing.’’ Whereas economists prob-
ably do as a group have more faith in markets than
others, it certainly is not true that we equate price
with value. We recognize many goods and services
for which there are no markets (such as clean air,
wildlife habitat, and …

Lowell Pritchard Jr.,
Carl Folke,
and Lance Gunderson
INTRODUCTION
As long as we are forced to make choices, we are
doing valuation. But different approaches to valua-
tion are based on qualitatively different assump-
tions. For example, the economics approach to
valuation is based on the ethical principle of con-
sumer sovereignty, and it privileges the kinds of
decisions individuals make in the marketplace. We
accept the economics approach as a useful partial
approach to decision making in relation to ecosys-
temservices if one is interested in what people think
about and want from services; if one believes that
human preferences are the basis for the value of
services; if one accepts the assumption that adding
individual …

Over recent years, we’ve been increasingly amazed by technology that provides us with easier ways of accomplishing many things. Doing business, shopping, researching, holding meetings, dating and keeping in touch with our distant friends can now all be done electronically.  
Elearning is one of these technological advances that allows us to learn anywhere anytime. Elearning institutions afford us professional instructors and comprehensive online courses over the Internet and can be taken up by using a single computer. These new learning opportunities were brought in by thoughtful people committed in making life easier.
However, there are people who are critical of elearning …