Seeing the trees as a forest: what counts in green accounting

Applying 'green' accounting to value the commercial contribution and deplet ion of a forest is only a short-run variation of the traditional approach t o net national product (NNP) and arguably provides less information. Green adjustments can make a vital difference, however, by introducing nonmarkete d values. Since optimal NNP is the linearized Hamiltonian, values are taken at the margin and exclude consumers' surpluses, unlike in cost-benefit ana lysis. Green NNP may also require imputation of unmarketed exports and impo rts. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.