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Altruism, Fertility, and the Value of Children: Health Policy Evaluation and Intergenerational Welfare

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Author Info
Javier A. Birchenall
Rodrigo R. Soares

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Abstract

This paper accounts for the value of children and future generations in the evaluation of health policies. This is achieved through the incorporation of altruism and fertility in "value of life" type of framework. We are able to express adults' willingness to pay for changes in child mortality and also to incorporate the welfare of future generations in the evaluation of current policies. Our model clarifies a series of puzzles from the literature on the "value of life" and on intergenerational welfare comparisons. We show that, by incorporating altruism and fertility into the analysis, the estimated welfare gain from recent reductions in mortality in the U.S. easily doubles.

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Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number 12836.

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Date of creation: Jan 2007
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Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:12836

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
I10 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - General
J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
J17 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Value of Life; Foregone Income

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  16. Dan Usher, 1973. "The Measurement of Economic Growth," Working Papers 145, Queen's University, Department of Economics.
  17. Sah, Raaj Kumar, 1991. "The Effects of Child Mortality Changes on Fertility Choice and Parental Welfare," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 99(3), pages 582-606, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  20. Angus Deaton, 2004. "Health in an Age of Globalization," NBER Working Papers 10669, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  21. W. Kip Viscusi & Wesley A. Magat & Joel Huber, 1987. "An Investigation of the Rationality of Consumer Valuations of Multiple Health Risks," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 18(4), pages 465-479, Winter. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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