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Willingness to pay for an early warning system for infectious diseases

Author

Listed:
  • Sebastian Himmler

    (Erasmus University Rotterdam)

  • Job Exel

    (Erasmus University Rotterdam
    Erasmus University Rotterdam)

  • Meg Perry-Duxbury

    (Erasmus University Rotterdam)

  • Werner Brouwer

    (Erasmus University Rotterdam)

Abstract

Early warning systems for infectious diseases and foodborne outbreaks are designed with the aim of increasing the health safety of citizens. As a first step to determine whether investing in such a system offers value for money, this study used contingent valuation to estimate people’s willingness to pay for such an early warning system in six European countries. The contingent valuation experiment was conducted through online questionnaires administered in February to March 2018 to cross-sectional, representative samples in the UK, Denmark, Germany, Hungary, Italy, and The Netherlands, yielding a total sample size of 3140. Mean willingness to pay for an early warning system was €21.80 (median €10.00) per household per month. Pooled regression results indicate that willingness to pay increased with household income and risk aversion, while they decreased with age. Overall, our results indicate that approximately 80–90% of people would be willing to pay for an increase in health safety in the form of an early warning system for infectious diseases and food-borne outbreaks. However, our results have to be interpreted in light of the usual drawbacks of willingness to pay experiments.

Suggested Citation

  • Sebastian Himmler & Job Exel & Meg Perry-Duxbury & Werner Brouwer, 2020. "Willingness to pay for an early warning system for infectious diseases," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 21(5), pages 763-773, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:eujhec:v:21:y:2020:i:5:d:10.1007_s10198-020-01171-2
    DOI: 10.1007/s10198-020-01171-2
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Blog mentions

    As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
    1. Chris Sampson’s journal round-up for 27th July 2020
      by Chris Sampson in The Academic Health Economists' Blog on 2020-07-27 11:00:01

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    Cited by:

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    2. Bal, Roland & de Graaff, Bert & van de Bovenkamp, Hester & Wallenburg, Iris, 2020. "Practicing Corona – Towards a research agenda of health policies," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 124(7), pages 671-673.
    3. Sebastian Neumann-Böhme & Stefan A. Lipman & Werner B. F. Brouwer & Arthur E. Attema, 2021. "Trust me; I know what I am doing investigating the effect of choice list elicitation and domain-relevant training on preference reversals in decision making for others," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 22(5), pages 679-697, July.
    4. Sebastian Himmler & Job Exel & Werner Brouwer, 2022. "Did the COVID-19 pandemic change the willingness to pay for an early warning system for infectious diseases in Europe?," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 23(1), pages 81-94, February.
    5. Meg Perry-Duxbury & Sebastian Himmler & Job Exel & Werner Brouwer, 2023. "Willingness to pay for health gains from an international integrated early warning system for infectious disease outbreaks," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 24(6), pages 967-986, August.
    6. Nguyen Duc Kien & Nguyen H. D. My & Dang Thi Anh Thu & Ton That Canh Tri & Nghiem Hong Son & Thai Khanh Phong & Hoang Cong Tin & Nguyen Hoang Lan & Tran Binh Thang & Bui Dung The & Phung Tri Dung, 2023. "Valuation of a Heatwave Early Warning System for Mitigating Risks Associated with Heat-Related Illness in Central Vietnam," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(21), pages 1-21, October.
    7. Pleeging, Emma & van Exel, Job & Burger, Martijn J. & Stavropoulos, Spyridon, 2021. "Hope for the future and willingness to pay for sustainable energy," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 181(C).
    8. Caroline Steigenberger & Magdalena Flatscher-Thoeni & Uwe Siebert & Andrea M. Leiter, 2022. "Determinants of willingness to pay for health services: a systematic review of contingent valuation studies," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 23(9), pages 1455-1482, December.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Infectious disease outbreaks; Early warning system; Willingness to pay; Contingent valuation; Cross-country comparison;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
    • H41 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - Public Goods

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