Purpose in Economic Risk Assessment
Although assigning a value to the entire Earth may seem whimsical, it is highly important in risk assessment. In the extreme view, absolutely nothing can be carried out without some risk that it will directly or indirectly exterminate life on earth, however usually the probability is so low as to be negligible. Another way of stating the value of the earth is the risk we are willing to take with it. And the amount of risk we are willing to take must be balanced against the possible reward. Such calculation will invariably use other moral or environmental assumptions for other outcomes, such as the value of human life.
To give a contrived example, supposing a research project could yield a cure for a certain fatal disease, but there is a small risk that the experiment itself could accidentally (through incompetence, negligence or malicious intent say) spread the disease in a virulent form - with a remote chance of wiping out the planet (or at least life on earth). By assigning a value to the potential lives saved and to the potential loss of life in failure, it becomes simple to assess how much risk is too much risk.
When used in these situations the value used for the Earth could vary markedly, and have little bearing on real currency.
Other situations, however, may have more direct financial application, such as an asteroid defence mechanism. There is a minute probability of an asteroid strike large enough to destroy the planet - what should we do about this? Clearly if we poured the entire GDP of the planet into protecting against this, we could minimise the risk, but might there be better things to spend it on? Instead, armed with a value for the planet, we can put in place systems that provide early warning and a good measure of the probability of asteroid impact. This knowledge itself reduces the average cost of a meteor impact to an "acceptable" level.
Read more about this topic: Value Of Earth
Famous quotes containing the words purpose, economic, risk and/or assessment:
“Let our hearts, as subtle masters do,
Stir up their servants to an act of rage
And after seem to chide ‘em. This shall make
Our purpose necessary, and not envious;
Which so appearing to the common eyes,
We shall be called purgers, not murderers.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“Weapons are an important factor in war, but not the decisive factor; it is people, not things, that are decisive. The contest of strength is not only a contest of military and economic power, but also a contest of human power and morale. Military and economic power is necessarily wielded by people.”
—Mao Zedong (1893–1976)
“Men’s hearts are cold. They are indifferent. Not all the coal that is dug warms the world. It remains indifferent to the lives of those who risk their life and health down in the blackness of the earth; who crawl through dark, choking crevices with only a bit of lamp on their caps to light their silent way; whose backs are bent with toil, whose very bones ache, whose happiness is sleep, and whose peace is death.”
—Mother Jones (1830–1930)
“The first year was critical to my assessment of myself as a person. It forced me to realize that, like being married, having children is not an end in itself. You don’t at last arrive at being a parent and suddenly feel satisfied and joyful. It is a constantly reopening adventure.”
—Anonymous Mother. From the Boston Women’s Health Book Collection. Quoted in The Joys of Having a Child, by Bill and Gloria Adler (1993)