> I'm not sure how the author puts a value on someone else's preference for a view. This seems paternalistic. The view out the window of your home has a signifi

> I'm not sure how the author puts a value on someone else's preference for a view. This seems paternalistic. The view out the window of your home has a significant impact on your quality of life. The author is a bit facetious. It's not the emotional value of the view, it's the market value of their real estate. If you have a house worth $1 MM with no above ground subway in front of it, and then one day they build such a subway and the market value goes to $800 k, then you just lost $200k. It hurts your pocket, but it sounds better to say it's your emotions you really care about.