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Age, Health, and the Willingness to Pay for Mortality Risk Reductions: A Contingent Valuation Survey in Japan

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  • Krupnick, Alan

    (Resources for the Future)

  • Alberini, Anna
  • Simon, Nathalie
  • Itaoka, Kenshi
  • Akai, Makoto
  • Cropper, Maureen

Abstract

A contingent valuation survey was conducted in Sizuoka, Japan, to estimate the willingness to pay (WTP) for reductions in the risk of dying and calculate the value of statistical life (VSL) for use in environmental policy in Japan. Special attention was devoted to the effects of age and health characteristics on WTP. We find that the VSLs are somewhat lower (103 to 344 million yen) than those found in the virtually identical survey applied in some developed countries. These values were subject to a variety of validity tests, which they generally passed. We find that the WTP for those over age 70 is lower than that for younger adults, but that this effect is eliminated in multiple regression. Rather, when accounting for other covariates, we find that WTP generally increases with age throughout the ages in our sample (age 40 and over). The effect of health status on WTP is mixed, with WTP of those with cancer being lower than that of healthy respondents while the WTP of those with heart disease is greater. The VSLs for future risk changes are lower than those for contemporaneous risk reductions. The implicit discount rates of 5.8–8.0% are relatively larger than the discount rate regularly used in environment policy analyses. This first-of-its-kind survey in Japan provides information directly useful for estimating the benefits of environmental and other policies that lower mortality risks to the general population and sub-groups with a variety of specific traits.

Suggested Citation

  • Krupnick, Alan & Alberini, Anna & Simon, Nathalie & Itaoka, Kenshi & Akai, Makoto & Cropper, Maureen, 2005. "Age, Health, and the Willingness to Pay for Mortality Risk Reductions: A Contingent Valuation Survey in Japan," RFF Working Paper Series dp-05-34, Resources for the Future.
    • Handle: RePEc:rff:dpaper:dp-05-34
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    1. Anna Alberini & Maureen Cropper & Alan Krupnick & Nathalie Simon, 2006. "Willingness to pay for mortality risk reductions: Does latency matter?," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 32(3), pages 231-245, May.
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    4. Krupnick, Alan J. & Alberini, Anna & Cropper, Maureen L. & Simon, Nathalie B. & Itaoka, Kenshi & Akai, Makoto, 1999. "Mortality Risk Valuation for Environmental Policy," Discussion Papers 10882, Resources for the Future.
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    Cited by:

    1. Tatsuhito Kono & Masaya Okuno & Kazuho Yamaura, 2022. "Regional differences in cognitive dissonance in evacuation behavior at the time of the 2011 Japan earthquake and tsunami," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 111(1), pages 139-162, March.
    2. Marcelo Lima, 2017. "Survey sponsor effects on the willingness to pay for mortality risk reductions," GRI Working Papers 272, Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment.
    3. Thijs Dekker & Roy Brouwer & Marjan Hofkes & Klaus Moeltner, 2011. "The Effect of Risk Context on the Value of a Statistical Life: a Bayesian Meta-model," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 49(4), pages 597-624, August.
    4. Kaambwa, Billingsley & Chen, Gang & Khadka, Jyoti & Milte, Rachel & Mpundu-Kaambwa, Christine & Woods, Taylor-Jade & Ratcliffe, Julie, 2021. "A preference for quality: Australian general public's willingness to pay for home and residential aged care," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 289(C).
    5. Hoffmann, Sandra & Qin, Ping & Krupnick, Alan & Badrakh, Burmaajav & Batbaatar, Suvd & Altangerel, Enkhjargal & Sereeter, Lodoysamba, 2012. "The willingness to pay for mortality risk reductions in Mongolia," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(4), pages 493-513.
    6. Stephen C. Newbold, 2011. "Valuing Health Risk Changes Using a Life-Cycle Consumption Framework," NCEE Working Paper Series 201103, National Center for Environmental Economics, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, revised Apr 2011.

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    Keywords

    willingness to pay; value of statistical life; mortality risk; contingent valuation; age;
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