The Economics of Pollination – on the Positive Externalities Pollinators Provide and Our Dependence on Them

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School of Business | Bachelor's thesis
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Date

2024

Department

Taloustieteen laitos

Major/Subject

Mcode

Degree programme

Bachelor’s programme in Economics

Language

en

Pages

34

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Abstract

The literature review examines (i) the economic valuation of natural insect pollinators in the context of macroeconomics and discusses (ii) whether a political intervention to support the wellbeing of them would be justified based on the economic findings. The thesis analyses the value of pollinators by the concept of externalities: pollination services are defined as beneficial externalities provided by pollinators to humans, whereas human actions that speed up pollinator declines are negative externalities that have long-lasting consequences on food security and economic stability. To observe economic tools for valuing these externalities, I introduce a method of total value of production and a model from standard welfare economics, as well as empirical findings resulting from the methods. I discuss the need of governmental pollinator conservation through the lens of these measures and different approaches to the concept of externalities. The thesis concludes that improved measures combining the knowledge of economics and natural sciences would be needed to define the socioeconomic value of pollinators. Additionally, based on the externality theories, the markets will not necessarily be able to internalise the value of pollinators on their own, mainly due to the poorly defined property rights of wild pollinators. Considering that there is human nutrition at stake, political intervention to support the wellbeing of pollinators could therefore be justified even in the absence of the improved valuation methods.

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Thesis advisor

Stryjan, Miri

Keywords

pollination, wild pollinators, externality, valuation, ecologic policy

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https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:aalto-202402252472

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