How to correctly assess mortality benefits in public policies

Bibliographic Data

ID19039357
AuthorsOlivier Chanel (0000-0002-8221-7558, a CNRS (UMR 6579)-GREQAM-IDEP, Marseille , France, corresponding author), Pascale Scapecchi (b OECD, Paris , France), Jean-Christophe Vergnaud (0000-0001-6604-4186, c CNRS-CES-Université Paris 1, France)
Year2006
Volume49
Issue5
Pages759-776
Publication date2006-09-01
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Environmental Planning and Management (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0964-0568 • E-ISSN: 1360-0559
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/09640560600850150
OpenAlexW2031735277
LanguageEN
Citations received8
References cited16

This paper concerns the difficulty of taking long-term effects on health into account in an economic valuation. Indeed, public decision makers should incorporate the cessation lag between implementation of an abatement policy and achievement of all of the expected mortality-related benefits for any projects involving health impacts. This paper shows how this time lag problem can be handled by proposing two approaches—either in terms of deaths avoided or of life years saved—within a dynamic perspective. The main findings are that long-term health benefits calculated by standard methods and widely applied to adverse health effects should be corrected downwards when incorporated into an economic analysis. The magnitude of correction depends on the discount rate, on technical choices dealing with epidemiology and on the method chosen to assess mortality benefits

Actuarial science · Business · Cost–benefit analysis · Economics · Lag · Microeconomics · Political science · Public economics · Public health · Time lag · Value of life · Computer Science · Global Health Care Issues · Health Systems, Economic Evaluations, Quality of Life · Healthcare Policy and Management · Medicine · Finance

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