When a dollar value is not the right answer
Some value is best protected as a decision criterion, threshold or weighted consideration — not forced into a single number. Naming what should not be monetised is part of the discipline.
The idea
By Dr Jay Whitehead ·
Monetisation · Decision-making · Evidence
Monetisation can clarify trade-offs when the evidence and decision genuinely need it. It can also create false precision, hide distribution and make a culturally important boundary look exchangeable.
Before valuing a pathway, ask what the number would help someone decide, whether the proxy represents the change, and whether the result would imply more certainty than the evidence supports.
The responsible alternative may be an evidence-backed narrative, a threshold, a set of non-negotiable criteria or a measurement plan. Refusing an unjustified number is an analytical result, not a failure to complete the work.
A contribution to discussion
© 2026 Dr Jay Whitehead. Shared under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International licence. Invited contributors retain copyright and agree the licence shown on their note before publication.