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The intensified call for value pluralism within research on valuation in environmental decision-making responds to the recognition that neoclassical economic approaches to environmental valuation do not sufficiently account for important aspects of human–nature relations. However, few studies have explored how value plurality actually plays out in social deliberative reasoning and decision-making in practice, and these studies have mostly been deductive and quantitative. In his essay ‘Are choices trade-offs?’ Alan Holland (2002) goes to the heart of differences in conceptions of value and rationality between neoclassical and ecological economics. These conceptions differ in terms of whether values are seen as commensurable or incommensurable, whether people's choices amount to willing exchanges of gains and losses between different values and whether unwillingness to trade values off for net gain is irrational. Addressing Holland's question, we present a quasi-experimental study on deliberative valuation of marine issues on the Swedish west coast, where we considered how local citizens and politicians approached values in their reasoning and choice-making. Mixing quantitative and qualitative empirical material, we used an abductive analytical approach, iterating between data and theory to link our observations and interpretations to prevalent understandings of value, valuation and deliberation in the literature. The results demonstrate the relevance of value pluralism for environmental policy by showing the prevalence of preference uncertainty and intrapersonal value conflicts in participants' reasoning and interaction. Value conflicts played out as the inability to achieve multiple transcendental values that participants aspired to, including conflicts between social and environmental goals. Rather than attempting to commensurate different value dimensions, participants sought to avoid moral conflicts, showed emotional anguish when value conflicts came to the fore

Blogpost first published 18.03.2022Plain Language Summary of Isacs, L., Kenter, J., Wetterstrand, H., Katzeff, C. (2023). What does value pluralism mean in practice? An empirical demonstration from a deliberative valuation. People and Nature 5(2): 384-402

This final manuscript in the special issue on “Funding for ocean conservation and sustainable fisheries” is the result of a dialogue aimed at connecting lead authors of the special issue manuscripts with relevant policymakers and practitioners. The dialogue took place over the course of a two-day workshop in December 2018, and this “coda” manuscript seeks to distil thinking around a series of key recurring topics raised throughout the workshop. These topics are collected into three broad categories, or “needs”: 1) a need for transparency, 2) a need for coherence, and 3) a need for improved monitoring of project impacts. While the special issue sought to collect new research into the latest trends and developments in the rapidly evolving world of funding for ocean conservation and sustainable fisheries, the insights collected during the workshop have helped to highlight remaining knowledge gaps. Therefore, each of the three “needs” identified within this manuscript is followed by a series of questions that the workshop participants identified as warranting further attention as part of a future research agenda. The crosscutting nature of many of the issues raised as well as the rapid pace of change that characterizes this funding landscape both pointed to a broader need for continued dialogue and study that reaches across the communities of research, policy and practice.

The high level of economic inequality in the world today is an unacceptable. The poor people of the world lack several essential services, one of them being financial services. In order to achieve economic growth and higher incomes, capital investments are a key determinant. For capital investments to take place, the availability of credit is of outmost importance – but this is usually what poor people lack. In the fight against poverty, micro finance has become an increasingly popular option amongst western donor agencies. There are scientific studies analysing the impact of micro credit, studies which several cases show a positive correlation between the work of micro credit institutions and positive effects on multidimensional aspects of poverty. Guatemala is a country that ranks below average on most social indicators within Central America. The economic inequalities are enormous, leaving the indigenous Maya population far behind. With this point of departure, this master's thesis and Minor Field Study aim to measure the impact of micro credit on indigenous women in a village in the poorest region of Guatemala. Its purpose is to capture how the economic capacity has changed over time due to micro credits from a micro finance institution. In order to obtain a multidimensional picture of their situation, four additional related aspects are examined – political capacity, social capital, human capital and gender equality. In addition, a correlation analysis of the inter-relation between these aspects and economic capacity is carried out. The results are two-sided demonstrating no general correlation between time and economic capacity, nor the four other aspects. The variables that increase with time are: construction of their houses of today, the quality of the clothes and political capacity. The reliability of the data is, however, somewhat questionable. In analysing this, a contribution is made to the ongoing discussion on how to perform impact studies on micro fi, Den ekonomiska ojämlikhet som präglar världen idag är oacceptabel. Fattiga människor saknar flertalet grundläggande tjänster, däribland de finansiella. I strävan efter ekonomisk tillväxt och ökade inkomster, spelar kapitalinvesteringar en avgörande roll, och för att dessa skall komma till stånd är tillgång till kapital ytterst viktig. Detta är dock just vad de flesta fattiga saknar. I kampen mot fattigdomen har mikrofinans blivit ett verktyg som uppmärksammats alltmer bland västerländska biståndsgivare. Det finns många studier av effekten av mikrokrediter, och i flera fall visar dess resultat en positiv korrelation mellan mikrokreditinstitutioners arbete och multidimensionella aspekter av fattigdom. Guatemala är ett land i Centralamerika som rankas under medel på de flesta sociala indikatorer. De ekonomiska ojämlikheterna är enorma och ursprungsbefolkningen, Mayaindianerna, ligger alltjämt längst ned på skalan. Med denna utgångspunkt, ämnar denna mastersuppsats och mindre fältstudie att mäta vilken påverkan mikrokrediter har på Mayakvinnor i en by i den regionen i Guatemala. Syftet är att fånga hur den ekonomiska kapaciteten förändrats med tiden som lån tagits. För att få en mer multidimensionell bild av hur deras situation har förändrats, undersöks fyra ytterligare aspekter – politisk kapacitet, socialt kapital, humankapital och jämställdhet mellan könen. Utöver detta utförs en korrelationsanalys av relationen mellan dessa aspekter och ekonomisk kapacitet. Resultaten är dubbelsidiga på så vis att de inte visar någon generell korrelation mellan tid och ekonomisk kapacitet, eller de andra fyra aspekterna. De variabler som dock ökar med tiden är: konstruktion av deras hus idag, kvaliteten på deras kläder och politisk kapacitet. Det går dock att ifrågasätta resultatens trovärdighet. När detta analyseras görs ett bidrag till den pågående diskussionen om hur effekter av mikrofinansinstitutioner mäts, liksom hur olika variabler påverkar varandra.

The increasing calls for value pluralism within research on valuation in environmental decision-making responds to an increasing recognition that conventional approaches to environmental valuation based in neoclassical economics do not account for important aspects of human-nature relations. Few studies have however explored how value plurality actually plays out in practice. In this paper, we draw on Alan Holland’s (2002) essay “Are choices trade-offs?”, which goes to the heart of issues behind valuation and illuminates differences in conceptions of value and rationality between neoclassical and ecological economists. In a quasi-experimental study on values related to marine management in a coastal community in Sweden with local citizens and politicians, we empirically investigate how participants in a deliberative valuation handle different values in their reasoning and choicemaking. The results demonstrate the relevance of value pluralism for policy by showing the prevalence of preference uncertainty, value incommensurability and both inter- and intrapersonal value conflicts. Value conflicts played out as the inability to achieve multiple transcendental values that were aspired to, including conflicts between social and environmental goals. Rather than attempting to commensurate, participants sought to avoid moral conflicts, and showed emotional anguish where these conflicts came to the fore. This evidence thus suggests that choices are not, fundamentally, trade-offs. Incommensurability appeared as felt experience and deliberate positions rather than expressions of irrationality. Legitimately resolving value conflicts thus demands reason-sensitive means for deciding upon which sacrifices are made and for how to represent public opinion in environmental decision-making in a way that reveals the actual moral considerations of people., This paper is submitted to People and Nature and in review. QC 20210929