present cost of the total change in 

 value that would result from a proposed 

 habitat alteration. 



Social cost could then be compared 

 with the social benefit estimate for the 

 project, so that a permitting decision 

 could be rationally made. Alternatively, 

 the party proposing the habitat altera- 

 tion could simply be charged the social 

 cost (via a tax) and allowed to make his 



own cost-benefit judgment (Day et al. 

 1980). 



The ecological input-output tables 

 and energy flow diagrams included in the 

 technical report (Costanza et al. 1983) 

 are intended to serve as a data base to 

 aid this effort. Some preliminary 

 analysis of the data has been done 

 (Leibowitz and Costanza 1982) but appli- 

 cation to specific management questions 

 must await further research. 



162 



