In economics we are trained to see the world in dollar signs. Everything has a price, from the shirt on your back to the computer you are sitting on. However, many times we are asked to calculate dollar values for things people would consider trivial or priceless. Once a term we have a lecture about how to calculate things which many would consider priceless.

This may raise the question why? Well a real world example would be if I was giving funding to a hospital I need to be able to calculate how much a life is worth when they have a specific disease to see if we can afford to offer treatment. Or if the city wants to build a new wider road but has to remove 10 trees, how much does this cost the city socially?

Below I put 3 questions which were brought up in the lecture, these are a small sample of hundreds i've had to write about. The first two are actual cases and the last one is just a theory type question. This might be my favorite part of the term to be able to write about these types of things. If you feel like answering them throw it in the comments and this weekend I will write up how I or 'economists' would calculate the price... it is very interesting.

How much is your life worth?

How much is the shade provided by a tree worth?

If every letter in the alphabet had a price, which one would be the most expensive?

(First two you have to provide hard numbers and why, and the last one just the letter and why)