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Social Willingness to Pay, Mortality Risks and Contingent Valuation

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  • Olivier Armantier
  • Nicolas Treich

Abstract

The Willingness-to-Pay approach is the basic justification for the use of the Contingent Valuation method to evaluate public mortality risk reduction programs. However, aggregating unweighted willingness-to-pay is a valid method only when individuals have the same marginal value of money, an unrealistic assumption in the presence of heterogeneity. We show that heterogeneity on wealth and baseline risk (respectively on risk reduction) leads to systematically overestimate (respectively underestimate) the social value of a risk reduction program. Using a recently published Contingent Valuation analysis, we find this overestimation to be quite modest though, approximately 15% in an upper bound case.

Suggested Citation

  • Olivier Armantier & Nicolas Treich, 2004. "Social Willingness to Pay, Mortality Risks and Contingent Valuation," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 29(1), pages 7-19, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jrisku:v:29:y:2004:i:1:p:7-19
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    Cited by:

    1. Henrik Andersson & Nicolas Treich, 2011. "The Value of a Statistical Life," Chapters, in: André de Palma & Robin Lindsey & Emile Quinet & Roger Vickerman (ed.), A Handbook of Transport Economics, chapter 17, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    2. Henrik Andersson, 2008. "Willingness to Pay for Car Safety: Evidence from Sweden," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 41(4), pages 579-594, December.
    3. Pierre-Alexandre Mahieu & Romain Craste & Bengt Kriström & Pere Riera, 2014. "Non-market valuation in France: An overview of the research activity," Working Papers hal-01087365, HAL.
    4. James Hammitt & Nicolas Treich, 2007. "Statistical vs. identified lives in benefit-cost analysis," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 35(1), pages 45-66, August.
    5. Adler, Matthew, 2020. "What should we spend to save lives in a pandemic? A critique of the value of statistical life," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 105283, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    6. Treich, Nicolas & Yang, Yuting, 2021. "Public safety under imperfect taxation," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 106(C).
    7. Lu Yang & Zhi Zhang & Weikang Zhang & Tong Zhang & Huan Meng & Hongwei Yan & Yue Shen & Zeqian Li & Xiaotian Ma, 2023. "Wetland Park Planning and Management Based on the Valuation of Ecosystem Services: A Case Study of the Tieling Lotus Lake National Wetland Park (LLNWP), China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(4), pages 1-26, February.
    8. Christoph M. Rheinberger & Nicolas Treich, 2017. "Attitudes Toward Catastrophe," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 67(3), pages 609-636, July.

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