Anna Alberini (University of Maryland) Stefania Tonin (University of Venice-IUAV) Margherita Turvani (University of Venice-IUAV) Aline Chiabai (Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei)
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We use conjoint choice questions to investigate people’s preferences for income and reductions in mortality risks delivered by contaminated site remediation policies. Our survey is self-administered using the computer by residents of four cities in Italy with severely contaminated sites. We estimate the Value of a Statistical Life to be about €5.6 million for an immediate risk reduction. If the risk reduction takes place 20 years from now, however, the implied VSL is about €1.26 million. The discount rate implicit in the responses to the conjoint choice questions is about 7%. People are willing to pay for permanent risk reductions, but not just any amount. Risk reductions in the nearer future are valued more highly than risk reductions in the more distant future. We also find that the VSL is “individuated,” in the sense that it depends on observable individual characteristics of the respondents, familiarity with contaminated sites, concern about the health effects of exposure to toxicants, having a family member with cancer, perceived usefulness of possible government actions, and the respondent’s beliefs about the goals of government remediation programs. Additional questions suggest that respondents discount lives, and do so at a discount rate in the ballpark of that implicit in their risk v. money tradeoffs.
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Paper provided by Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei in its series Working Papers with number
2006.113.
Find related papers by JEL classification: J17 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Value of Life; Foregone Income I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health K32 - Law and Economics - - Other Substantive Areas of Law - - - Environmental, Health, and Safety Law Q51 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Valuation of Environmental Effects Q53 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Air Pollution; Water Pollution; Noise; Hazardous Waste; Solid Waste; Recycling
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