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Saving lives with stem cell transplants

Author

Listed:
  • Damien Sheehan-Connor
  • Theodore Bergstrom
  • Rodney Garratt

Abstract

Blood stem cell transplants can be life-saving for some patients, but the chances of finding a matching donor are small unless a large number of potential donors are evaluated. Many nations maintain large registries of potential donors who have offered to donate stem cells if they are the best available match for a patient needing a transplant. An alternative source of stem cells, umbilical cord blood, is stored in banks. Everyone faces a small probability of needing a transplant which will increase their likelihood of survival. The registries and cord blood banks are thus an interesting example of a pure public good with widely dispersed benefits. This paper explores the gains in survival probability that arise from increased registry and bank sizes and uses value of statistical life methods to estimate benefits and compare them to costs. Our results suggest that for the United States and for the world as a whole, the sum of marginal benefits of an increase in either the adult registry or the cord blood bank exceeds marginal costs. However, marginal benefit-cost ratios for the adult registry are much greater than those for the cord blood banks, which suggests that to the extent that these two sources of life saving compete for public funds it may be preferable to prioritize expansion of the adult registry over cord blood banks. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media New York 2015

Suggested Citation

  • Damien Sheehan-Connor & Theodore Bergstrom & Rodney Garratt, 2015. "Saving lives with stem cell transplants," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 51(1), pages 23-51, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jrisku:v:51:y:2015:i:1:p:23-51
    DOI: 10.1007/s11166-015-9222-7
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    Cited by:

    1. Eyting, Markus & Hosemann, Arne & Johannesson, Magnus, 2016. "Can monetary incentives increase organ donations?," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 56-58.
    2. Bergstrom, Ted & Garratt, Rodney & Leo, Greg, 2019. "Let me, or let George? Motives of competing altruists," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 269-283.
    3. McTaggart, Ken & Killeen, Donna, 2018. "Modeling the optimal ethnic composition of an adult stem cell registryAuthor-Name: Blake, John T," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 264(3), pages 884-893.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Benefit-cost analysis; Transplantation; Matching; Donations; Stem cells; D61; H41; I11;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D61 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Allocative Efficiency; Cost-Benefit Analysis
    • H41 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - Public Goods
    • I11 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Analysis of Health Care Markets

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