Michael Cameron () (University of Waikato) John Gibson () (University of Waikato) Kent Helmers () (Independent Consultant) Steven Lim () (University of Waikato) John Tressler () (University of Waikato) Kien Vaddanak () (Cambodian Red Cross)
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Development agencies spend approximately US$400 million per year on landmine clearance. Yet many cost-benefit evaluations suggest that landmine clearance is socially wasteful because costs appear to far outweigh social benefits. This paper presents new estimates of the benefits of clearing landmines based on a contingent valuation survey in two provinces in rural Cambodia where we asked respondents questions that elicit their tradeoffs between money and the risk of death from landmine accidents. The estimated Value of a Statistical Life (VSL) is US$0.4 million. In contrast, most previous studies of landmine clearance use foregone income or average GDP per capita, which has a lifetime value of only US$2,000 in Cambodia. Humanitarian landmine clearance emerges as a more attractive rural development policy when appropriate estimates of the VSL are used.
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Paper provided by University of Waikato, Department of Economics in its series Working Papers in Economics with number
08/04.
Find related papers by JEL classification: J17 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Value of Life; Foregone Income O22 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - Development Planning and Policy - - - Project Analysis
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