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Valuing future benefits

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  • John A. Cairns

Abstract

This paper reports the results of a study of time preference amongst the general public in the Grampian region of Scotland. The subjects, who were selected randomly from the electoral roll, were offered a series of inter‐temporal choices. Their responses were used to calculate private financial time preference rates, social non‐monetary time preference rates and social financial time preference rates. The paper investigates the relationship between these three measures of time preference in both the short and the long run. It also explores the effects of individual characteristics, including age, and health, on the implicit discount rates.

Suggested Citation

  • John A. Cairns, 1994. "Valuing future benefits," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 3(4), pages 221-229, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:hlthec:v:3:y:1994:i:4:p:221-229
    DOI: 10.1002/hec.4730030404
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    Cited by:

    1. Arthur E. Attema & Han Bleichrodt & Olivier L’Haridon & Patrick Peretti-Watel & Valérie Seror, 2018. "Discounting health and money: New evidence using a more robust method," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 56(2), pages 117-140, April.
    2. Carl Lyttkens, 2003. "Time to disable DALYs?," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 4(3), pages 195-202, September.
    3. Han Bleichrodt & Yu Gao & Kirsten I. M. Rohde, 2016. "A measurement of decreasing impatience for health and money," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 52(3), pages 213-231, June.
    4. Mark Pennington & Rachel Baker & Werner Brouwer & Helen Mason & Dorte Gyrd Hansen & Angela Robinson & Cam Donaldson & the EuroVaQ Team, 2015. "Comparing WTP Values of Different Types of QALY Gain Elicited from the General Public," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 24(3), pages 280-293, March.
    5. Galizzi, Matteo M. & Miraldo, Marisa & Stavropoulou, Charitini & van der Pol, Marjon, 2016. "Doctor–patient differences in risk and time preferences: A field experiment," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 171-182.
    6. Brouwer, Werner B. F. & van Exel, N. Job A., 2004. "Discounting in decision making: the consistency argument revisited empirically," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 67(2), pages 187-194, February.
    7. John Cairns & Marjon Van Der Pol, 1999. "Do People Value Their Own Future Health Differently from Others' Future Health?," Medical Decision Making, , vol. 19(4), pages 466-472, October.
    8. S. Höjgård & U. Enemark & C. H. Lyttkens & A. Lindgren & T. Troëng & H. Weibull, 2002. "Discounting and clinical decision making: Physicians, patients, the general public, and the management of asymptomatic abdominal aortic aneurysms," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 11(4), pages 355-370, June.
    9. Dorte Gyrd‐Hansen & Jes Søgaard, 1998. "Discounting life‐years: whither time preference?," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 7(2), pages 121-127, March.
    10. Miraldo, M & Galizzi, M & Stavropoulou, C, 2013. "Doctor-patient differences in risk preferences, and their links to decision-making: a field experiment," Working Papers 12578, Imperial College, London, Imperial College Business School.
    11. Lazaro, Angelina & Barberan, Ramon & Rubio, Encarnacion, 2002. "The discounted utility model and social preferences:: Some alternative formulations to conventional discounting," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 23(3), pages 317-337, June.
    12. Brouwer, Werner B. F. & Koopmanschap, Marc A., 2000. "On the economic foundations of CEA. Ladies and gentlemen, take your positions!," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(4), pages 439-459, July.
    13. Bleichrodt, Han & Gafni, Amiram, 1996. "Time preference, the discounted utility model and health," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 15(1), pages 49-66, February.
    14. De Marchi, Elisa & Caputo, Vincenzina & Nayga, Rodolfo M. & Banterle, Alessandro, 2016. "Time preferences and food choices: Evidence from a choice experiment," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 99-109.
    15. Maria M. Ducla-Soares & Clara Costa-Duarte & Maria A. Cunha-e-Sa, 2001. "The hyperbolic forest owner," Nova SBE Working Paper Series wp405, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Nova School of Business and Economics.
    16. Bleichrodt, Han & Quiggin, John, 1999. "Life-cycle preferences over consumption and health: when is cost-effectiveness analysis equivalent to cost-benefit analysis?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(6), pages 681-708, December.
    17. Magnus Johannesson & Per‐Olov Johansson, 1996. "The discounting of lives saved in future generations—some empirical results," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 5(4), pages 329-332, July.
    18. K. Stavem & I. S. Kristiansen & J. A. Olsen, 2002. "Association of time preference for health with age and disease severity," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 3(2), pages 120-124, June.
    19. Ana Bobinac & Werner Brouwer & Job van Exel, 2011. "Discounting future health gains: an empirical enquiry into the influence of growing life expectancy," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 20(1), pages 111-119, January.
    20. Borghans, Lex & Golsteyn, Bart H.H., 2006. "Time discounting and the body mass index: Evidence from the Netherlands," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 4(1), pages 39-61, January.
    21. Stirling Bryan & Tracy Roberts & Chris Heginbotham & Alison McCallum, 2002. "QALY‐maximisation and public preferences: results from a general population survey," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 11(8), pages 679-693, December.
    22. John A. Cairns & Marjon M. Van Der Pol, 1997. "Saving future lives. A comparison of three discounting models," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 6(4), pages 341-350, July.
    23. Alireza Mahboub-Ahari & Abolghasem Pourreza & Ali Akbari Sari & Trevor A Sheldon & Maryam Moeeni, 2019. "Private and social time preference for health outcomes: A general population survey in Iran," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(2), pages 1-13, February.
    24. Angelina Lazaro & Ramon Barberan & Encarnacion Rubio, 2002. "The economic evaluation of health programmes: why discount health consequences more than monetary consequences?," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(3), pages 339-350.
    25. Vasquez-Lavín, Felipe & Ponce Oliva, Roberto D. & Hernández, José Ignacio & Gelcich, Stefan & Carrasco, Moisés & Quiroga, Miguel, 2019. "Exploring dual discount rates for ecosystem services: Evidence from a marine protected area network," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 63-80.

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