Does everything have a monetary value?

The knee jerk reaction is to say, No, no! Some things are priceless. Let me put forth a contrarian point of view.

We have a finite amount of resources. It is impossible for everyone to have everything that they could possibly want. Therefore we need a way of choosing how resources will be allocated. We use money to rank comparative values. You may object and ask how we can compare the values of apples and oranges, but that is exactly what we do. Without money, we would need to resort to a barter system – so many apples would fetch so many oranges, based on supply and demand.

Okay, but what about the intangibles. How can we put a price tag on a human life, pollution or a species of plant or animal?

Under the formal rules of cost benefit analysis the value of a human life is based on how much money a person will earn for the remainder of his life. I find this a bit harsh. Still there must be a limit to how much we are willing to spend to keep a person alive. How much should it be? A thousand dollars, a million dollars, a trillion dollars? As distasteful as this is to think about, there must be some point where the sacrifice to others is too great.

This is already a very long question, so let me stop here to get your reactions.